


Dim are the Pathways

by Dreamshaper



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: And angst, F/F, Slow Burn, The Holtzbert Mafia AU, and also blood and violence because mafia, and fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-08 14:35:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 26,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8848810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: Erin's date night ends badly when she sees something she shouldn't have seen and finds herself kidnapped by a gang of criminals. She's quite unaware how much her life is going to change. Dim are the pathways which may lead to true love.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to holtzdammit on tumblr who made the Holtzbert Mafia edit :D

Erin should have listened to her gut about this date, she thought to herself, already when the man had asked her out, she hadn’t been sure it was a good idea.

She’d said yes anyway, because she hadn’t been asked out in far too long, and even though his choice of restaurant had seemed a bit odd for a first date – a fish restaurant at the harbour, which meant quite the travel time for her – she had gone along with it, because he had seemed nice enough, bad gut feeling be damned.

She had gone along with it, and now, she regretted ever having said yes – as she ran, trying to keep up with him, he didn’t even look back at her, not caring the slightest what was happening to her as he only was keen to save his own skin.

If she hadn’t needed her breath for running, cursing her high heels, she would have yelled after him, perhaps would have cursed him for acting so cowardly; she couldn’t afford to waste breath on that though, and so she remained quiet, and ran.

She didn’t run fast enough.

One of the men chasing them took her down with a sort of flying tackle, her breath getting knocked out of her when she hit the pavement hard; she tried to get enough air back in her lungs to scream, but before she had the chance, a meaty hand clamped down over her mouth, muffling her cry, her date vanishing in the distance while the other two men stopped beside Erin and their companion.

“Shit”, one of them said feelingly, “what do we do?”

“We can’t just drop her, too”, the other one commented, Erin’s eyes briefly widening, her whimper muffled by the hand still on her mouth, “you know what the boss thinks of that. And the guy got away.”

“Well, Lady”, the man who had caught her commented, straddling her and effortlessly grabbing her wrists when she tried to struggle, “looks like you’re going on a ride with us.”

“No, please”, Erin brought out, unable to keep the fear out of her voice, “please, just let me go, I won’t say anything to anyone, I promise. Please don’t—”

She got cut off harshly when one of them shoved a balled up wad of cloth in her mouth, almost choking at the unexpected sensation; from the corner of her eye, she saw a silver glint as one of the other two men knelt next to her, unable to hold back the tears anymore when cold steel closed around her wrists moments later.

“Sorry, Lady”, the one who had gagged her said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet, “nothing personal. The boss will decide what we’ll do with you.”

All Erin could do was sob quietly as the men, after a brief look around to make sure no one saw what was happening, dragged her off, to their waiting car; they shoved her into the backseat, the man who joined her there taking the time to blindfold her as the car drove off, none of them saying another word to her as they drove to their destination.

* * *

 

The car drive seemed to take forever, and by the time the vehicle finally stopped and the engine was killed, Erin was frightened out of her mind; she groaned quietly into the gag when her arm was grabbed and she was pulled out of the car, one of the men telling her to be quiet as he started pulling her along.

They walked for quite a while, his grip tight on her arm, just above her elbow, but not so harsh that it would have hurt; at first, she could hear her high heels click on stone or something similar, then the sound and the feeling of the floor beneath her feet changed, to something softer, her heart hammering up to her throat by the time she heard a door open.

“Uhm, we’re back, boss”, she heard one of the men say, while the one holding on to her made her stop walking by tugging on her arm; she stood there awkwardly, only to flinch when a female voice responded, cold and hard, but still the last thing she had been expecting to hear. “I can see that. And I can see you brought someone. What happened?”

“She saw us”, the guy next her mumbled, sounding quite ashamed, “her guy and she did, actually. The guy got away.”

“Did he now”, the woman gave back, her voice growing even colder, “well, we will have to do something about that then, right. And your incompetence about this will have consequences. Once I took care of some other, more important business than fixing your mistakes. Take our… guest to the lab until then, the machinist is going to keep an eye on her until I can make time for her.”

_At least they won’t just kill you right away,_ Erin told herself, in an attempt to quell her panic; her heart was still racing, and it was getting decidedly more difficult to breathe through her nose with the gag in her mouth, the blindfold not helping with keeping the panic down.

“Yes boss”, one of them said, the grip on her arm briefly tightening, then he tugged slightly; Erin still felt like fainting on the spot with fear, but went with him, until he told her to stop, then made her yelp by unexpectedly picking her up on his arms.

“Stairs”, she heard him say, giving her best to hold still as he carried her down said stairs, putting her back on her feet once they were at their bottom; somewhat glad that she hadn’t been dropped, Erin walked with him again, morbidly wondering if they’d keep her this way until they had decided what they’d do with her, handcuffed and gagged and blindfolded, or if at least some of this would be removed at some point.

The man stopped her again, and she could hear him knock on wood; then, the sound of a door opening followed, and he spoke up once more, sounding a bit concerned, just like he had when he had spoken to the woman he’d referred to as boss earlier.

“Uhm we got a guest and the boss said she should stay with you until she’s got time for her”, he said, all in one breath, “so uhm, yeah. There she is. Here’s the handcuff key. Have a good day.”

His hand vanished from her arm, and she heard him step back; then the sound of a door closing followed – and then, the room was quiet, Erin standing there awkwardly again, the panic rising up again as she couldn’t help but be afraid of whoever she had been taken to now, not sure she wanted to know what this person might do to her.


	2. Chapter 2

After a few seconds had passed, Erin heard something clunk on wood, then footsteps approached her; she tried not to flinch when calloused fingers closed around her arm, letting it happen that whoever had grabbed her now led her a few steps, only to end surprised again moments later as another female voice came up, something about her pronunciation a bit off, even though Erin couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

“There’s a chair right behind you”, the woman was telling her, “sit down.”

Hoping that this wasn’t some cruel prank, Erin slowly lowered herself, oddly relieved when she indeed ended up sitting on a chair; she flinched again when she felt the fingers brush her forearm, then one of the cuffs was unlocked, and she couldn’t hold back a low groan as her arms slumped forward, her shoulders and wrists aching after the cuffs having held her hands in the same position for quite a while.

She heard the cuff close again, and realized that her left hand had been chained to the chair; this was still better than having her hands cuffed behind her back though, and while they clearly were eager to not let her escape, she reminded herself again that at least, they hadn’t killed her so far, well aware they could have done so a hundred times since she had seen them at their business.

“Take off the gag and blindfold if you like”, the voice came again, while the steps moved away, “unless you’re into that, I guess.”

Quickly, Erin pulled off the gag, then the blindfold, blinking into the bright, artificial light; she found herself in a room which might have been big, a while ago, but now was quite cramped, with odd bits and pieces of metal, several machines which left Erin wondering about their purpose, workbenches lining the walls with more stuff on them.

At one of those benches, the woman who had spoken to her stood, with her back to her, bent over some contraption of metal and wires; eager to distract herself from her fear, Erin studied her, taking in the soot and oil stained overall the stranger was wearing and the heavy combat boots, the mess of blonde curls on top of her head and the bun which held more hair in check at the back of her neck.

“No worries”, the woman said, apparently having felt Erin’s eyes on her, “it’s highly unlike you’ll get offed anytime soon. The boss doesn’t like killing random innocent people. You’ll just have to hang here with me for a while.”

Erin had a moment to wonder why the woman would bother to try and make her feel better, then said woman was straightening up and turned to look at her, and she flinched visibly, unable to hold back the reaction.

The stranger was younger than her, she could tell at once, blue eyes looking at her in amusement from behind yellow tinted glasses; neither the glasses, nor the eyes had made Erin flinch though – that reaction had been caused by the clearly visible scar which ran from the corner of the woman’s mouth all the way to her ear, jagged and white, explaining the slight slur Erin had heard in her voice when she had spoken to her.

“Sorry ‘bout the bondage”, the blonde said, gesturing at the cuff which now bound Erin to the chair, “but can’t have you wandering around in here, can we. You might get the idea to run off and that would end badly for you.”

“Look, I”, Erin started, then heard the tremble in her voice and fell quiet, taking a deep breath before she tried again, “I told those men, and I’ll tell you, too, I won’t say anything to anyone. I’m not even sure what I saw, so just let me go, please?”

“Not for me to decide”, the blonde replied, leaning against her workbench and crossing her arms over chest, “and I’m pretty sure you know exactly what you saw. I’m a crazy genius, don’t try to lie to me.”

Even though she still was scared out of her mind, Erin found the casual way the other woman was talking to her strangely soothing, and, to her own astonishment, felt herself blush a bit at how fast the blonde had seen through her lie.

“You want a drink?” the younger woman asked next, to her astonishment – she had expected many things, but certainly not that, “you look as if you could use something strong. I got a really good whiskey I won from Jack at poker.”

“Sure”, Erin replied, not sure it’d be smart to say No to someone who apparently was a sort of mad scientist for a gang or crime boss of some sort; she found herself unable to look away from the scar as the blonde moved from the workbench and past her to a cupboard half hidden beneath another desk, opening it and pulling out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

She poured a generous amount into both of them, then handed one to Erin; mumbling a Thanks, the physicist accepted the drink, figuring that it wasn’t poisoned or something when she waited until the blonde had taken a sip first.

“I’m Holtzmann”, the blonde said after having done just that – and having smacked her lips in appreciation, Erin, despite her still quite upset state, having to admit that the whiskey was quite good, “also known as the machinist or the mad scientist. And you are?”

“Erin”, Erin mumbled in reply, trying hard now to not stare at the scar and to ignore how surreal this felt – here she was, captured by some crime gang, chained to a fortunately not uncomfortable chair, and drinking whiskey with a person who had just introduced themselves as a mad scientist, “um, Dr Erin Gilbert, actually. I teach at Columbia, particle physics, I…”

She realized that she was rambling – and perhaps giving away way too much, considering that this woman was working with the men she had witnessed murder someone not too long ago – and forced herself to shut up; Holtzmann smirked at her, taking a sip of her drink before she replied, as if they had met in a bar and Erin wasn’t there against her will. “Particle physics huh? Interesting. I got my degree in nuclear engineering.”

“Oh”, Erin let out, briefly wondering why someone with such a degree would work in such an environment, but figuring that she could hardly ask; Holtzmann gave her another smirk, and again her eyes were drawn to the scar – and from how the blonde raised an eyebrow, she had noticed this time, Erin finding herself blushing yet again, no matter how absurd this whole situation was.

“Sorry”, she mumbled before the engineer could say something, forcing herself to look away and opting to stare at the whiskey instead, “that was rude.”

She wasn’t quite sure if it had been enough, and didn’t want to find out if being a member of some sort of crime gang made someone have a short temper about such things; apparently though, Holtzmann wasn’t offended, merely shrugging before she finished her whiskey and put the glass on the nearest flat surface.

“Well, as much as I love chatting to a beautiful woman as you are, I still have to work to do”, she stated, Erin blinking at the blonde calling her a beautiful woman, “I imagine the boss will be here in a few though. Get comfy until then.”

“Um, okay”, Erin gave back, feeling nervous again as she thought of the boss Holtzmann had mentioned, and couldn’t help but ask herself if the woman would decide to have her killed after all; she downed the rest of her drink in one big gulp, then sat staring at the cuff around her wrist in silence while Holtzmann went back to work, the alcohol helping her to keep the panic down as she waited for the blonde’s boss to make an appearance and to decide about her fate.


	3. Chapter 3

Just as Holtzmann had predicted, it didn’t take long until her boss showed up in the lab; she was an imposing woman, Erin could tell at the first glance she got at her, her panic spiking again and making her tremble in her seat as the woman gave her quite the unabashed once-over.

“What’s your name”, she then asked, not sounding as if she cared much, and raising an eyebrow at the audible tremble in Erin’s voice when she answered the question.

“E-Erin”, she brought out, while Holtzmann turned to lean against her table again and watch, speaking up after the redhead’s brief answer and making her boss look at her. “Dr Erin Gilbert, boss, she teaches at Columbia. Particle physics.”

“I see you worked your small talk magic again”, the woman replied dryly, earning a smirk and a shrug, “alright, then, Dr Erin Gilbert. Tell me what exactly you saw.”

“Nothing”, Erin replied at once, the other woman’s eyes narrowing – before she moved with stunning speed and slapped her across the face, hard enough to throw her head aside, a startled cry escaping the redhead at the unexpected hit.

“Don’t lie to me”, the older woman snarled, while Erin shrunk back in the seat as far as it was possible, tears burning in her eyes now, “I’m asking you again. Tell me what you saw.”

“Men”, Erin brought out, “at, at the harbour, my date had taken me there, we were walking after dinner, and we saw them… They shot some g-guy and dumped him in the ocean, but I promise I won’t say anything to anyone, I promise, just let me go, please, I—”

“Shut up”, the woman interrupted her harshly, and Erin fell silent at once, swallowing heavily, “the man who was with you, what’s his name.”

“Phil”, the redhead gave back at once, “Phil Hudson, he works at Columbia with me…”

“Note that down”, the elder woman told Holtzmann, who nodded at once and said “Got it, Dr Gorin”; taking a step back from the chair, Gorin apparently was finished with interrogating Erin for now, turning to look at the engineer, sounding a bit warmer when she continued, even though her voice still was somewhat cold and harsh.

“Get me what you can on her and on her man. Perhaps, they can be useful for us”, she told the blonde, “I’ll leave her in your capable hands for now. Let me know if she makes trouble.”

“Will do, boss”, Holtzmann replied, earning a terse nod from her boss; and then, the woman turned and marched off without as much as another glance at Erin, the door to the lab falling close behind her, a shaky breath escaping the physicist the moment Gorin was gone.

“So”, Holtzmann said in a conversational tone, as if Erin just hadn’t been smacked by her boss, “you want to tell me about yourself and your boyfriend, or should I start digging for stuff on the world wide web?”

“There’s not much to tell”, Erin mumbled, face still stinging from where she’d been hit; she wondered if Holtzmann and her boss had some sort of good cop – bad cop scheme going on, and the blonde had been chosen to play the good cop, answering her anyway though, not wanting to risk getting hit again.

“He works with me”, she added, fighting the urge to fidget nervously on her seat, “in another department, he teaches chemistry... Look, that was the first date I went on with him, that’s pretty much all I know about him. And which books he likes to read, because that’s what we talked about during dinner.”

“Hudson, you spell that with a d?” Holtzmann wanted to know, making Erin nod, a smirk curling the blonde’s lips afterwards.

“Fitting. D like Dick. And a dick he is, for just running off and abandoning you. Guess he didn’t want to risk ending up here with you, huh?” she said, and Erin automatically opened her mouth to defend the man, not even sure why, especially not when she realized that Holtzmann was right.

Phil _had_ run off, he hadn’t even looked back, and now here she was, captured by this crime gang, and they’d do God knew what to her, and he hadn’t even tried to help her when the men had grabbed her.

Now here she was, captured and they were probably going to kill her after all at some point, no matter what Holtzmann had said about that, and before Erin could attempt to control herself, she burst into tears, sobbing so violently that her whole body trembled.

Holtzmann looked a bit startled at that, moving closer to her before she fully realized what she was doing; a quick look made sure that Erin had nothing she could use as a weapon nearby, and once she had reassured herself that she was in no danger of being brained with a wrench or some similar heavy object, she moved to stand in front of the crying woman.

She wasn’t quite sure why she wanted to make the crying stop so badly, but Erin had a sort of effect on her, she couldn’t deny that – and her surprise only grew when Erin blindly grabbed for her with her free hand, managing to take hold of her forearm, clinging to her tightly, the blonde wondering why her heart clenched up when Erin looked up at her with tears streaming down her face.

“Please, please just let me go”, the redhead brought out, interrupting herself with heavy sobs, “I won’t tell anyone anything, I promise. Please… I don’t want to die, please…”

“You’re not going to die”, Holtzmann told her, feeling awkward and a bit overwhelmed – social interactions had never been her strong suit, there was a reason why she worked alone in this lab in the basement, even if Gorin claimed that she could get a lot of information just with talking, “I told you, the boss is not big on killing innocent people. And you won’t be harmed as long as you’re here, I promise. Um… you want another drink?”

Offering more alcohol was the first thing which had come to her mind, but to her dismay, Erin shook her head; not quite sure what else to do, Holtzmann reached out and awkwardly patted her shoulder, and apparently, that touch was what made Erin realize that she was holding on to an actual crime gang’s mad scientist for comfort, pulling her hand back as if she had been scalded.

Holtzmann wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt oddly hurt at the way Erin recoiled, and let her hand drop back down to her side, feeling uncharacteristically awkward, clearing her throat before she mumbled about having work to do, the physicist’s quiet crying behind her making it impossible for her to focus though, and she wondered why she’d care.


	4. Chapter 4

A while later, Erin was alone in the lab, Holtzmann having left to get food; she had reassured her that she’d bring something for her, too, and that she’d be back soon, the physicist having stopped crying at this point, but still feeling desolate and scared out of her mind, convinced that she’d get killed after all.

_You have to do something_ , she told herself, trembling as she looked around the lab for something, anything she could grab and use as a weapon; her left wrist was still cuffed to the chair, but the chair itself wasn’t bolted down, and if she bent over, she could stand up and pull it around with her, _you can’t just sit here and wait for them to do God knows what to you._

She spotted a heavy-looking wrench on a workbench not far from her, and quickly, before she could lose her nerve, she got up from the chair and, straining her ears to make sure she wouldn’t be surprised by Holtzmann coming back, dragged the chair over to the workbench, taking hold of the wrench and shoving it into the hem of her skirt at her back, quickly pushing the chair back to where she hoped it had been standing and sitting down again.

As it turned out, there had been no need to hurry, and Erin still had ample time to make sure she could reach the wrench easily until Holtzmann came back; the blonde was whistling happily as she returned to the lab, carrying two brown paper bags, putting one of them on the workbench she had been working at before she walked to where Erin was sitting, letting the other bag drop into her lap.

“Hope you like tuna on rye”, she said as she turned again, and the moment her back was to Erin, the redhead shot up from her seat, grabbing the wrench with her free hand and swinging it with all her might, aiming for the blonde’s head, telling herself she had to take her out in one hit if she wanted this to work out.

Holtzmann spun at the exact same moment Erin got moving, and caught her wrist before she could land her hit; the physicist yelped as the engineer used her own momentum against her, twisting her arm up behind her in a way which forced her to turn until she was with her back to her, the wrench clattering to the floor when the uncomfortable position made her fingers go numb.

“Nice try, babe”, Holtzmann mumbled into her ear, standing so close to her that their bodies were touching and Erin could feel her warm breath on her ear and neck, for some odd reason feeling her cheeks heat up, “but no cigar. I know exactly where all of my tools are in this lab, at all times. You think I wouldn’t notice the missing wrench?”

Her grip on Erin’s wrist tightened, and for a moment, the physicist was sure that she’d yank her arm up and break her wrist; she squeezed her eyes shut, her breath hitching as she tried to steel herself against the pain – and then Holtzmann let go of her, and stepped back, voice cold when she spoke up again. “Sit down again.”

“I’m sorry”, Erin brought out as she sank back down onto the seat, “please don’t… don’t hurt me…”

“You’re not sorry”, Holtzmann replied, in the same cold tone, “not for trying to hit me, at least. Probably that it didn’t work out.”

She took a moment to kick the wrench out of Erin’s reach, the sound of the metal sliding over the concrete floor making the physicist flinch; then, she walked around the chair, simultaneously pulling the key to the handcuffs from her pocket, Erin flinching again when Holtzmann unlocked the cuff she’d closed around the chair’s armrest and took hold of the other woman’s hands, Erin fighting against fresh tears when the blonde chained her wrists behind the backrest, wrapping the chain around one of the struts in the process, making sure she couldn’t move her hands more than an inch or two.

“You should be glad you tried that with me, and not with Gorin”, the blonde then commented, walking past her to pick up the brown bag which had fallen to the floor when Erin had jumped up from her seat, “because Gorin would have beaten the shit out of you and then would’ve thrown you into some dark, damp cellar room. She’s not quite as forgiving as I am.”

Erin swallowed heavily, but it seemed that chaining her hands behind her and giving her that bit of terrifying information was all Holtzmann intended to do; without as much as another glance at her direction, the blonde made her way to her workbench and sat down there with her back to Erin, ignoring her as she ate the food she had brought for herself, then went back to work, the physicist staring at the floor, asking herself if she had made a deadly mistake when she had attacked the blonde and if there’d be more consequences for her actions after all.

* * *

 

Holtzmann, Erin learned as the minutes ticked by, then turned to hours, was quite good at ignoring her; the blonde kept tinkering with whatever project she was working on, not even looking at her when she moved from one workbench to the other for other tools.

The swiftness with which she found them even in the most cluttered areas made it clear to Erin that she hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said that she knew where all her tools were, at all times, and she cursed herself for not thinking of this when she had chosen her weapon – perhaps, she thought to herself, it would have been smarter to just try knocking her out with the chair, but the chance was gone, and she doubted she’d be given a new one anytime soon.

She shifted on the chair a bit, her shoulders and arms aching from being held in the same position for quite a while by then; she doubted that Holtzmann would care much though, and thus kept quiet about it, only flexing her fingers every now and then, trying to ignore the pain and the hunger and her fear, even though this became drastically more difficult when Holtzmann apparently got done with her work for the day, straightening up and taking off the safety glasses she’d been wearing for the past hours.

Still, she ignored Erin as she walked past her and out the lab, switching off the lights; the door fell close behind her with a sound which sounded terribly final, the key turning in the lock only icing on the cake, and as she sat there in the darkness, Erin started to cry again, convinced that she had sealed her own death sentence with that attack and that she wouldn’t see the light of day ever again.


	5. Chapter 5

Erin didn’t sleep much that night, her position on the chair and her whole situation keeping her from doing more than slipping into a light dose; and so, she was wide awake when the door was unlocked in what she assumed to be the next day, and Holtzmann entered, carrying two paper cups and yet another brown bag, the smell of coffee rising from the cups and making Erin’s mouth water.

“Morning”, Holtzmann greeted her, apparently having decided that she had ignored her long enough, “you promise that you won’t try braining me with my own tools again if I free one of your hands so you can eat?”

“I promise”, Erin gave back at once, shifting on the chair yet again, unable to hold back a wince at the pain which flared through her arms and back at the movement, “I’m sorry, just… please, it… it hurts.”

“I imagine”, the blonde gave back, and Erin wondered if she had imagined the flash of compassion in the younger woman’s eyes; Holtzmann still took the time to put down the stuff she had brought, then moved behind her, the physicist letting out a groan when the cuff around her right wrist was unlocked and her muscles screamed in agony when she tried to move her arm forward.

“Slowly, slowly”, Holtzmann said from behind her, her touch surprisingly gentle when she took hold of her forearm and stopped her, “you’re only going to make it worse if you try moving too fast.”

Erin grit her teeth and tried to slow down, but it still hurt, and it took a while to get her hands into a more comfortable position; Holtzmann cuffed her left hand to the chair’s armrest again, like in the previous day, then handed her one of the coffee cups.

“Not sure how you like your coffee”, she said, letting the paper bag drop into the other woman’s lap, “so I got you a cappuccino, no sugar, and a muffin. Enjoy.”

“Um, thank you”, Erin replied, taking a careful sip of the coffee; it still was hot, but not so hot that it would have burned her tongue, and she found herself surprised again when the blonde smirked at her, before moving to one of the workbenches and reaching for something hidden within a mountain of parts, Erin slightly surprised when music filled the lab moments later.

Humming along to the song, Holtzmann moved to the workbench where her current project waited for her, and got to work; having nothing else to do, Erin watched her as she had her breakfast, the muffin not completely sating her hunger, but at least making it a bit better, and the coffee had been a lucky guess, just the way Erin liked it.

She finished fairly quickly, glad when even after Holtzmann had noticed and had taken the empty cup from her, she made no move to chain her in that uncomfortable position again, but went back to work; and after a while, she either forgot Erin was there or simply didn’t care as she started dancing along to the music, making the redhead grimace when she twirled a lit blowtorch around in a rather reckless fashion.

The grimace quickly turned into wide-eyed shock when the blowtorch caught a roll of blueprints on fire, Holtzmann apparently oblivious to it; for a moment, Erin wasn’t sure if she should speak up, not wanting to anger the blonde, then doing so after all, figuring that possible anger was still better than burning to death.

“Holtzmann”, she said, trying to gain the woman’s attention, raising her voice when there was no discernible reaction, “Holtzmann! Fire!”

Without missing a beat, Holtzmann put the blowtorch out and moved to another one of her desks, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the chaos on it; she winked at Erin, making the physicist feel somewhat surreal – after all, she had tried to knock the woman unconscious the previous day, and yet here the blonde was, dancing and winking at her, as if they were colleagues and as if she wasn’t held captive in this place against her will.

The extinguisher hissed as Holtzmann put the fire out, Erin feeling a bit relieved when the flames vanished; the blonde gave her another wink as she dropped the extinguisher onto the workbench next to the sad remains of the blueprints, then went back to work, still dancing on the spot, Erin, for some strange reason, finding herself unable to look away.

For a few moments, she even forgot that she was a captive and couldn’t even get up from her chair unless Holtzmann would allow it by freeing her; then, something in the blonde’s pocket beeped, and she stopped dancing at once, pulling out a cell phone and glancing at it before she strode out of the room without another word, Erin feeling oddly desolate at being left alone.

She sighed to herself as she glanced around the room again, trying to figure out what some of the parts were meant to be used for; she’d never been good with the hands-on stuff though, always having preferred to work on theories, and so, she didn’t get far, but it was a way to keep occupied as she waited for Holtzmann to come back.

It didn’t take long until the door opened again, but the strange sense of relief she felt at not being alone anymore didn’t last long – because it wasn’t Holtzmann who entered the lab, but a man, Erin after a moment recognizing him as one of those who had taken her captive last night.

“All alone here, hm”, he commented, closing the door, the way he smiled at her making her skin crawl, the feeling that her trouble was only getting bigger by the second causing her heart to speed up, the iron band of fear tightening around her chest, “you must feel so abandoned. I’ll keep you company.”

His smile widened as he stopped behind her – so she couldn’t kick him, Erin realized belatedly, an option she would have had, had he stood in front of her – and placed both hands on her shoulders; she tried to squirm away from him at once, but his grip tightened on her, and he pulled, until her back hit the backrest of the chair.

“Don’t struggle, honey”, he told her, Erin’s breath catching in her throat when one of his hands slid down and inside her blouse, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”

“Stop”, Erin brought out in response, trying to squirm away from him again, crying out when his fingers closed around her breast, “no, stop it! Take your hands off me!”

“Shut up”, he grumbled, giving a harsh squeeze and making her cry out again, “and stop struggling, or this will get ugly.”

“No, stop, please”, Erin still tried to make him stop, on the verge of tears now; he only let out a grunt – and then, just as he moved his other hand to join the first one, there was a low _bzzzzzzt_ sound and he flinched, and yelped, and suddenly, his hands were gone from her body as he hit the floor.

“Jack, Jack, Jack”, Holtzmann’s voice came next, Erin squirming in the chair to look at her, just in time to see her pocket a small black object and realizing what had happened, “you know the boss won’t be happy about that. She made it quite clear that no one is to touch our guest.”

He just groaned in response, making the blonde smirk at him; then, her gaze grew serious again and even softened a bit as she moved to crouch next to Erin, placing a surprisingly tender hand on her arm and asking her if she was okay.

“I… I think so”, Erin gave back, unable to keep a tremble out of her voice, “you stopped him before he could… do much, thank you…”

Even though she just had said that she thought she was okay, she felt tears spring to her eyes as she heard the man groan again, unable to stop thinking of his hands on her body; noticing how upset she was, Holtzmann awkwardly rubbed her arm, not quite sure what to say or do to make this better – and before she could come up with something, Erin suddenly was hugging her with her free arm and buried her face in her shoulder, the blonde feeling her tremble as she fought to hold back a sob.

“Hey”, Holtzmann said, after a moment returning the hug and rubbing her back, figuring that this couldn’t hurt, “it’s okay, he’s not gonna touch you again, I’ll make sure of that.”

The man groaned again on the floor as if in response, and Holtzmann glared at him; she felt an odd mixture of relief and dismay when Erin regained her composure enough to pull back from the hug, the blonde taking another moment to make sure the redhead truly was okay before she dug out her radio, not bothering to explain what she was doing as she brought it to her mouth and radioed her boss, only saying a few words, but enough to make Jack groan yet again from his position on the ground. “Boss? We’ve got a situation.”


	6. Chapter 6

Shortly after Holtzmann had made the call for her boss, Gorin came down the lab, with two men in tow; by then, Jack had recovered enough to sit up, even though his face was still a grimace of pain, fear added to the mix when the boss entered and gave him a hard look.

“I do believe I made myself quite clear”, Gorin said, with a hard look at the man, and Erin was amazed to see him pale, a shudder running through his body, “did I not, Jack? What were my instructions?”

“No one’s to touch her”, Jack mumbled in reply, shifting on the ground nervously, “but boss, I…”

“Holtzmann”, Gorin interrupted him, not taking her eyes off him for a second, the blonde immediately responding, with a glare at the man, while Erin swallowed heavily at the memories the younger woman’s words brought back. “I caught him with his hand down her shirt, and she was decidedly not happy about it.”

Erin nodded at the questioning look Gorin shot her, and when the elder woman then looked at Jack again, he looked as if he was about to pee his pants, his fear only growing when his boss made a vague gesture at him.

“Take him out of my sight”, she then said, and even though she hadn’t acknowledged them slightest so far, the two men started to move; Jack had a moment to plead, then one of them punched him and he fell silent, only groaning and whimpering when they dragged him off.

“And now that this has been taken care of”, Gorin then said, turning to Holtzmann, “take care of the rest.”

“Yes, boss”, Holtzmann replied at once, the elder woman giving a brief nod before she marched off, yet again without another look at Erin; and suddenly, the physicist felt nervous as the blonde focused on her, her nervousness only increasing when Holtzmann dug into her pocket until she found the key to her handcuffs.

“Don’t try anything”, Holtzmann warned her, standing behind her and unlocking the cuff chaining her to the chair; Erin flinched when she felt the engineer grasp her other hand and pull it behind her back, but she didn’t try to fight, remembering well how fast Holtzmann had overpowered her the previous day.

“No worries”, the blonde told her while she cuffed her hands behind her, realizing that doing this without any explanation might upset the redhead, “nothing’s gonna happen to you. The boss just decided that it’s not safe here for you, so I’m taking you somewhere else.”

Not sure what to think of this, Erin swallowed, but had to admit that the thought of being alone somewhere with Holtzmann was more pleasant than staying at this place, where she knew other guys to be around; Gorin had made it quite clear that they were to stay away from her, but it hadn’t stopped one of them, and she worried that sooner or later, it might not stop others anymore, either.

And the next time, Erin knew, Holtzmann might not happen to show up in time to stop them from going any further than Jack had, the mere thought sending unpleasant shivers up and down her spine.

“I’ll have to blindfold you”, Holtzmann told her once she had reassured herself that the cuffs were tight enough to keep her from slipping out, but not so tight that the steel would have cut into the skin, sounding almost apologetic, “can’t have you see where we are right now and where we are going, right?”

Erin wasn’t quite sure if a response was expected, but let out a vaguely agreeing noise anyway; unlike the men who had captured her in the first place, Holtzmann was surprisingly careful when she blindfolded her, then took hold of her arm and, with a bit of tugging, made her rise from the chair.

She held back a groan at how stiff her muscles felt after all the hours she had sat there, and apparently, Holtzmann was willing to let her adjust, giving her a few minutes of just standing there, then asking “Good to go?”, Erin making herself nod at once – the blonde had been mostly nice to her so far, but she still didn’t want to risk her getting angry and perhaps end up getting smacked by her, too.

“Alright”, she heard the blonde say, then felt a gentle tug on her arm; she started to walk, glad that Holtzmann wasn’t dictating a too fast pace, feeling worried again though a short while later as she remembered the stairs she had been carried down when she’d been taken to this place, quite sure she wouldn’t make it up there in one piece.

“Careful now”, Holtzmann’s voice came a few moments later, “don’t get startled.”

The blonde’s hand vanished from her arm, and another second later, she squawked as she felt one arm across her back and the other at the hollows of her knees, somehow managing to not flinch too violently when she was picked up.

“Easy”, she heard Holtzmann say, a bit stunned that apparently, it was the engineer who was carrying her – she certainly was stronger than she looked, Erin thought to herself, but then, she had felt Holtzmann’s strength when the younger woman had stopped her from braining her with the wrench, so it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise.

Not wanting to end up dropped, Erin gave her best to hold still, hearing how the engineer started breathing heavier after a while; at least though, the stairway apparently wasn’t too long, since she was put back on her feet again rather quickly, and felt Holtzmann take hold of her arm once more.

“Don’t worry”, the blonde said as they walked again, a door opening and closing, followed by the sound of a car door being pulled open, “it’s not a long drive. Careful, don’t hit your head.”

Her hand moved from the physicist’s arm to her shoulder and applied gentle pressure; apparently, Erin morbidly noted, she had experience with getting handcuffed people into car seats, since she was securely seated moments later, thankfully without having hit her head, her breath hitching for some odd reason when she felt Holtzmann buckle her in, the other woman’s hand brushing her stomach in the process.

“Safety first”, Holtzmann commented, making her wonder if she had noticed that brief hitch of her breath; she still asked herself why that had happened – it hadn’t been fear, not like when that guy had groped her, but Erin wasn’t quite sure what it had been, and part of her was sure that it wouldn’t be wise to dwell on it.

She flinched when she heard the engine roar to life; briefly, she entertained the thought that someone would see her and would take note of the blindfold and figure out that she was in trouble, then her heart sank as she realized that certainly, this wasn’t the first time Holtzmann was doing this, and that she’d know which roads to take so nobody would see them.

“Music?” the blonde asked, and Erin shrugged, not quite sure what the right response to that was; apparently, Holtzmann viewed her gesture as agreement, since music filled the car moments later, and she tried to get comfortable despite her hands still being cuffed behind her, shifting on the seat while Holtzmann drove, asking herself where the blonde would take her now and how long she might have to stay there until they would finally decide about her fate.


	7. Chapter 7

Just as Holtzmann had said, the drive wasn’t long, and when Erin heard the engine being killed, her heart sped up again; the car door on the driver’s seat opened and closed, then the one next to her opened and her seatbelt was unbuckled, followed by Holtzmann taking hold of her arm and helping her out of the car, once again making sure she wouldn’t hit her head.

“Almost there”, she heard Holtzmann say as the blonde led her a few more steps, briefly stopping, the familiar sound of a door unlocking coming moments later, “I’ll get that blindfold and those cuffs off of you in a minute.”

The engineer made her stop, and Erin heard her move around for a bit – before she jumped as something closed around her ankle, the cold material of the object a stark contrast to the warmth of Holtzmann’s hands.

“Alright”, she heard the blonde say next, “all set.” There was a brief touch at the back of her head as Holtzmann undid the blindfold, Erin blinking at the unexpected light once she could see again; she was standing what she assumed to be the anteroom of a house, quite certain that the engineer wouldn’t have taken her to an apartment where possible neighbours might become aware of her presence, the redhead glancing around while Holtzmann unlocked the handcuffs.

Then, she looked down at herself, not quite sure what to think at the narrow black device Holtzmann had clamped around her ankle; the blonde noticed her glance and gave her a look which was almost apologetic, explaining what it was before Erin had the chance to ask.

“I don’t want to keep you chained up all the time”, she let the physicist know, making Erin wonder why, “but I can’t just have you run off, either, so I’m gonna use that. You can move around freely inside the house, but if you try to step outside, it’ll shock you and make an alarm go off. Um, not shock you so much that you’d die, just enough to… stop you.”

“Okay”, Erin replied, not quite happy with this situation, but figuring that it was better than having to spend the time chained to a chair or some other piece of furniture; Holtzmann gave her a lopsided little smirk, and even though Erin wasn’t quite sure why, she found herself smiling back, only to remember a moment later that she still was a captive, her smile fading as she swallowed heavily.

She wanted to ask Holtzmann what would happen to her, how long she would have to stay there with her, but was at the same time frightened of the answer; and so, she kept her questions to herself, following the engineer instead when the younger woman walked from the anteroom to the living room.

“Can’t let you use the computer, as you surely understand”, Holtzmann told her while Erin looked around, realizing quickly that this wasn’t the first time the engineer was staying in this place, tools and bits and pieces of various projects taking up most available flat surfaces in the room, only the couch and one of the chairs at the small table having room to actually sit on them.

“The TV is yours though”, the engineer continued, “and so are the books so… you won’t die of boredom?”

“Thank you”, Erin gave back, not sure what else she could say; Holtzmann gave her another smirk, then turned towards the nearest partly finished device, only to stop when Erin cleared her throat, looking at her questioningly, taking note of the way the redhead’s fingers fidgeted as she spoke on. “Um, Holtzmann? Can I… shower with this thing? Because I feel kinda… icky.”

She gestured at the device around her ankle, a bit relieved when Holtzmann nodded at once, her relief mixing with surprise at what the younger woman said next. “Bathroom’s down that hall, fresh towels are beneath the sink, I’ll find you something to wear in the meantime, alright?”

“Okay, thank you”, Erin gave back, telling herself that she might as well make the best of the situation for as long as it was going on; she was still scared that she’d ended up killed after all, but she had to admit that it was making her feel better to be in this new place with just Holtzmann, and not with a whole bunch of gangsters plus the blonde’s scary boss.

_Maybe Holtzmann wasn’t lying to you when she told you they’re not just gonna kill you,_ she thought to herself as she made her way to the bathroom, relieved to find towels exactly where Holtzmann had said they would be; after all, Erin reasoned, they could have killed her about a thousand times at this point, if they had wanted to, and not only was she still alive, but had been taken to another, hopefully safer place after one of Gorin’s men had molested her.

She pondered these things as she showered, using the shower gel and shampoo she’d found on the edge of the tub, despite her situation feeling much better as she got clean, the hot water relaxing muscles which were stiff from the hours she’d spend sitting on a chair.

As she washed her hair, Erin wondered what sort of clothing Holtzmann would find for her; she figured that the blonde not only had some of her projects at this place, but clothes too, and since she was just a few inches taller, she figured it’d be fine, and certainly better than putting the clothes she’d worn for the date gone so horribly wrong on again.

Thinking of the date made her think of Phil, and of how he had ran off, and had left her at the mercy of the henchmen; she found herself wondering if he had been captured by now, as well, but found it hard to feel sympathy for him, after how he simply had abandoned her instead of trying to help her.

She also wondered if they’d keep him somewhere, too, if they had captured him at this point, and what they would do with him, and what Gorin’s plans for her in the long run were; certainly, they couldn’t just hold her captive at this place forever, but just letting her go clearly wasn’t an option, either, and once more Erin felt frightened as she couldn’t help but ponder a number of unpleasant futures for herself.

Taking a few deep breaths, Erin tried to calm herself down as she finished with her shower; she turned the water off, wringing out her hair before she pulled the curtain aside and reached for the towel she had readied, and just when her fingers closed around it, the door opened and Holtzmann stood there, opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but apparently, the sight of naked and still dripping wet Erin had blown the words right out of her mind, and she only let out a weird sounding croak.

Erin let out a squeak in response, and that seemed to snap Holtzmann out of her stupor; she shook her head a bit as if to clear it, then hastily stared down onto the floor, and Erin was amazed to see that she actually blushed a bit as she cleared her throat.

“Oh, um, sorry, I should have knocked”, the blonde mumbled, keeping her gaze fixed on her boots, blindly thrusting the bundle of clothes she had brought into Erin’s general direction while the redhead hurriedly wrapped herself up in the towel, “I didn’t mean to… sorry. Here’s the clothing. Sorry.”

“Thank you and it’s okay”, Erin gave back, oddly touched by how Holtzmann made sure not to look at her; she stepped closer and took the clothing, her fingers brushing the engineer’s in the process, and she could have sworn that the blonde’s blush deepened at the brief contact.

“You didn’t do it on purpose”, she added, for some strange reason eager to make Holtzmann feel better; the younger woman cleared her throat in response, then turned and left the room without another word, Erin waiting until she had pulled the door close behind herself before she removed the towel and dried herself off, then checking the clothes the blonde had brought her.

There was no underwear, but she figured she could live with that, for now; Holtzmann had brought her sweatpants and a comfortable looking sweater with MIT printed on it, along with a pair of socks, the clothes soft and warm on her body as she pulled them on, and even though she still was a captive, and could feel the device around her ankle, Erin felt relaxed and comfortable as she left the bathroom, telling herself that she could handle this and that her situation could’ve ended much worse than it was right now.


	8. Chapter 8

As she came out of the bathroom, Erin heard noises of Holtzmann tinkering from the living room and figured she might as well go there; the engineer glanced up from her work and at her when she entered, apparently having managed to regain her composure after walking in on her like that, even though the brief flash of surprise in her eyes made it quite clear that she hadn’t expected Erin to join her again.

“Sorry again about walking in on you like that”, the blonde said after a moment, making it Erin’s turn to be surprised as she hadn’t been expecting another apology for the little incident, “I really should have knocked, I mean, I didn’t take you here to then ogle you when you’re naked. Sorry.”

“It’s okay”, Erin reassured her again, wondering if she should comment on how surprised she was about how much Holtzmann apparently cared about not making her uncomfortable, considering she was a captive after all and the engineer was tasked with keeping an eye on her, not with making sure she was alright, “like I said, you didn’t do it on purpose so…”

Holtzmann gave a brief shrug, then focused on her work again; for a moment, Erin felt lost, not sure what to do, before she moved over to one of the bookshelves and looked at the volumes there, mildly annoyed by the jumbled way the books had been put onto said shelves, no system or order discernible.

This made her think of her own bookshelves at her home, and her heart clenched up as she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d ever actually set foot in said home again; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself that she just had to make the best of this for the sake of her mental health, and reminding herself yet again that, if this gang or whatever it was exactly had wanted her dead, she’d have been killed by now for sure.

She pulled a book out at random, not really caring what it was about, just wanting something to keep her mind occupied; it turned out to be some sort of thriller, and even though that perhaps wasn’t the best reading material for someone in her situation, Erin didn’t bother to take another one, moving to the couch instead, unaware that Holtzmann was watching her as she laid down and opened the book.

Erin wasn’t the first woman Holtzmann had seen without a stitch of clothing on, far from it, in fact; the encounters had gotten less ever since her face had been cut up, but hadn’t stopped completely even then, so the sight of naked women was nothing new for the engineer, but still it had shaken her up, and she wasn’t quite sure why.

Her mouth went dry at the mere memory, the image of naked Erin coming up in her mind again and again, no matter how hard she tried to focus on her work; she had been quite sure that Erin had a nice body, something which had been apparent when she had taken her first closer look at the redhead shortly after she had been brought to her lab the first time, but still it had stunned her to actually see said body, and realize how nice exactly it was.

_God, Holtzmann, you need to get laid,_ she told herself as she glanced at the redhead again, focusing a bit too much on the other woman’s hands as Erin turned a page of the book, holding back the urge to clear her throat as she forcefully moved her gaze back to her work, _this is ridiculous._

Even though she tried hard to focus, she found herself fantasizing, imagining how it’d feel to trail her tongue down Erin’s flat stomach, make her moan when she’d reach… “Ow, shit!” Holtzmann cursed as her lack of attention had caused her project to retaliate for being neglected by shocking her, not enough to do serious damage, but enough to hurt, Erin sitting up on the couch in response to her exclamation and looking at her.

“Are you okay?” she then asked, and Holtzmann was amazed to hear a hint of concern in her voice; then, she told herself not to be stupid, she probably had imagined that tone, after all, she was basically Erin’s jailer in this place, even if she didn’t keep her chained to some chair, so certainly, her well-being wasn’t very dear to the physicist.

“Yeah, fine”, she still said, focusing on her work again and thus missing the doubtful look Erin shot her, “just… slipped a bit. Sorry for disturbing your reading.”

It felt a bit weird to have Holtzmann apologize for this, and so, Erin reassured her it was okay; the engineer gave her another brief look, then fixed her gaze on her work again, only to pause when the doorbell rang, while Erin flinched at the unexpected sound.

“Ah”, Holtzmann let out, putting her tools aside and coming to her feet, “that must be my stuff from the lab at the other house.”

Momentarily, Erin felt dismayed, having entertained the thought that it might have been some random person who would figure out that she was in trouble and would help her; giving her best to push the disappointment aside, she sat up on the couch again while Holtzmann left the room, Erin hearing her talk to someone after the door had been opened, then the engineer came back into the room, carrying a cardboard box, followed by a man Erin didn’t recognize, a young, slightly chubby guy with pale skin and curly hair, the way he stared at her as he entered making her decidedly uncomfortable.

“You just let her walk around like that?” the guy asked, talking to Holtzmann about Erin as if she wasn’t in the room, “aren’t you afraid she’ll knock you down and run off?”

“No”, Holtzmann curtly replied, giving no further explanation; the guy looked at Erin again, even though his gaze was focused more on her breasts than anything else, and she fought the urge to shift on her seat, not wanting him to notice how uncomfortable he was making her.

“Rowan, stop staring at her and help me get in the rest”, Holtzmann said, perhaps a bit sharper than he had expected, judging from how he flinched visibly; he cleared his throat and followed the blonde back outside, and after a few more boxes had been brought in, he drove off again, Holtzmann shaking her head the moment he was gone.

“You’d think he’d have better manners than that”, she then commented as she started unpacking things; Erin found herself smiling as she nodded, her tone of voice and her words making the blonde smirk as well when she replied.

“I’m surprised he didn’t drop anything”, the physicist said, prompting Holtzmann to briefly pause her unpacking so she could glance at her, “judging how he was staring at my breasts the whole time.”

“If he had dropped something, I would have had his head”, Holtzmann told her, and for a moment, Erin wasn’t sure if she meant this the literal way, reminding herself that the blonde still was a gangster, even if she was somewhat nice to her, “honestly, I don’t know why Gorin keeps him around. Anyway, you up for some dinner once I’m done unpacking?”

“Sure”, Erin gave back, her stomach rumbling as if to remind her she hadn’t eaten in quite a while, and she spoke on before she could ponder her next words too much and overthink them, “you want some help with that?”

“…yeah, why not”, Holtzmann replied, after a moment of surprise, an emotion Erin had noticed flashing up in her eyes, “um… thanks.”

Erin just gave her a little smile and shrugged, then got up and moved over to help; as they unpacked together, Holtzmann instructed her on where she wanted what, and she felt strangely relaxed, for a while even forgetting that she was a captive in this house and that Holtzmann was there to keep an eye on her and not to be her friend, her fears and worries for once not weighing heavily on her mind.


	9. Chapter 9

During the next few days, Holtzmann and Erin settled into a sort of routine; Holtzmann had, to Erin’s surprise, let her have the one bedroom the house had, and slept on the couch, getting up before the physicist and making breakfast, then working on her projects while Erin kept busy with the books and the TV.

While she still was refused access to the computer, for obvious reasons, Holtzmann had provided her with a notebook and an assortment of pens, so she could do some work of her own; they often both worked in the living room for hours without talking, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, and even though Erin was perfectly aware that she was a captive and couldn’t leave the house, she stuck to her resolution of making the best of her situation.

To her surprise, she got quite a bit of work done, quickly getting used to Holtzmann’s habit of playing music whenever she worked; and just like back at the other house, the engineer would dance along to the melodies, and more often than not, Erin found herself watching, oddly fascinated by this woman, asking herself how someone who had been to MIT and had such a degree had ended up working for someone like Dr Gorin, but not quite sure if it would be wise to ask.

She also wondered about the story behind the scar, even though it didn’t freak her out as much anymore as it had when she had seen it for the first time; judging from how it looked, the wound had been deep and certainly painful, but again, Erin wasn’t sure it would be wise to ask about it, and so, she kept her questions to herself.

Sometimes, Holtzmann would leave during those days, and be gone for varying lengths of time; a few times, she came back with food and other supplies – on one occasion, she brought clothing for Erin, the physicist quite thankful for the items – and sometimes, she came back with nothing at all, only causing more questions for the redhead, questions she kept to herself though, along with all the others.

Holtzmann never mentioned anything about the immediate future, and Erin didn’t ask; and so they lived side by side in the house, getting used to each other, sometimes having quite nice conversations during lunch and dinner, Erin finding herself appreciating the blonde’s intelligence and sense of humour, the engineer making her laugh quite often, and sometimes even making her forget that she wasn’t in this place voluntarily.

On the fifth day after Holtzmann had taken her to this house, she let Erin know that she had an errand to run after dinner, and that she’d probably be back late; the physicist shrugged and nodded in response, by now used to being left alone for hours in this place, and thus not thinking much about it as the evening turned into night and Holtzmann wasn’t back by the time Erin went to bed.

By now, she had gotten used enough to being at this place that she fell asleep fairly quickly; her sleep was light though, and so, she woke up again when she heard the front door open and close, almost dismissing the noise as Holtzmann finally come back, a brief glance at her watch showing her that she hadn’t even slept for three hours… and then, she heard the low groan, and was wide awake from one moment to the next.

Part of her knew that it was strange to care about Holtzmann like this, to worry if she was hurt when she heard her make such a sound, after all, the woman was basically her guard and jailer in this place; still she couldn’t help herself, but felt worried, getting out of bed and making her way out into hallway, her heart skipping a beat when she spotted the engineer.

Holtzmann was leaning against the door, one hand pressed against her side; blood trickled out between her fingers, from a cut above her eyebrow, from her split lower lip and her nostrils, bruises already forming around her eyes, making it quite clear that her nose had been broken.

“Holtzmann!” Erin half said, half yelped, making the engineer look up and at her, “oh my God! What happened?”

She hurried over to where Holtzmann was standing, suddenly sure that the engineer was covering a stab wound or perhaps even bullet wound with her hand and would collapse any moment; to her relief though, the blonde stayed on her feet, but still, Erin wrapped one arm around her waist, just to make sure, and led her into the living room, not even fully realizing how she took control of the situation as she asked her to sit down on the couch.

Holtzmann did what the physicist said without question, mumbling “bathroom” when Erin asked if she had a first aid kit somewhere; the redhead hurried off to get it, and when she came back, Holtzmann had unbuttoned her shirt and was grimacing as she tried to pull it off, exposing more bruising on her ribcage and the wound which still was bleeding a bit, Erin still relieved to see that it was a cut and not a stab or bullet wound, even though it was long and looked fairly deep.

“Jesus, Holtzmann”, Erin said, feeling a bit faint at the sight of all these injuries; part of her, the part which remained the rational, scientific observer, noted the other scars she could see marring Holtzmann’s upper body, but she knew that now was not the time to dwell on them, not quite sure if she actually knew enough first aid to help the engineer with this, but figuring that she had to try.

“What happened?” she asked again, even though she didn’t really expect an answer; the engineer shrugged in reply, then winced, earning a sympathetic look from the redhead before Erin helped her get her shirt off, dropping the bloodied piece of clothing to the floor, giving her best to not notice the younger woman’s quite well defined abs and to not pay attention to the fact that now, Holtzmann was sitting there in her pants and bra.

“You think this needs stitches?” she asked as she tried to get a closer look at the cut, even though the blood made this somewhat difficult; Holtzmann shook her head, somewhat surprised at Erin’s willingness to help her, an emotion she hid well when she replied. “No. Bandage should be enough. You’ve done something like this before?”

“No, so you’ll have to tell me what to do”, Erin told her at once, earning a brief nod from the other woman; she instructed her on how to clean the injury and how to cover it up before she’d bandage it, and while Erin set the work, Holtzmann kept talking, mostly to distract herself from the pain of the antiseptic burning in the cut.

“As for what happened, I guess deal gone wrong describes it best”, she told the physicist, letting out another wince as Erin cleaned the wound in her side, giving her an apologetic look before she started bandaging the cut, “bastards tried to cheat us. One of the less pleasant sides of my job.”

“Apparently”, Erin mumbled, moving to sit on the couch next to her so she could knot up the bandage properly; as she finished doing so, and looked up at the engineer’s face, her eyes met Holtzmann’s, and her breath hitched noticeably, the physicist suddenly finding herself captivated by the younger woman’s gaze, unable to look away.

Holtzmann was a mess in this moment, beaten and bloody and clearly in pain; and still, Erin found herself drawn to her, not even noticing how she held her breath as her gaze dropped down to the blonde’s lips.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Holtzmann move, and felt the engineer’s hand on her arm a moment later; despite the callouses on her fingers, the blonde’s touch was gentle, and Erin wondered what it would be like to feel her lips on hers, what she would taste like and if…

_What are you doing!_ her brain shrieked at her, reality rushing back and making her feel as if she had been doused in ice-cold water, _this woman is a criminal! She’s holding you captive here don’t forget that! You can’t_ kiss _her!_

“Ahem!” she cleared her throat loudly, making Holtzmann jump, the blonde clearly not having expected that to happen, “okay! I guess I’ll clean that cut in your eyebrow now!”

“…okay”, Holtzmann gave back, sounding a bit dazed; Erin cleared her throat again, unable to keep her hands from trembling as she cleaned the cut and covered it with a band-aid, asking herself what would have happened if she had given in to the urge to kiss the blonde, and how Holtzmann might have reacted.


	10. Chapter 10

After Erin had taken care of Holtzmann’s injuries, they both had gone to sleep, the physicist insisting that the engineer took the bed that night; she regretted this now, in the next morning, the night on the couch having done quite the number on her back, and she wondered if the ten years she was older than Holtzmann really made such a difference, the blonde not appearing perturbed by the nights she had spent on that couch at all.

For once, she woke up before Holtzmann did, and figured she might as well get started on breakfast; and just when the coffee was almost done, the engineer came into the kitchen, Erin briefly pausing her preparations as the bruising around the blonde’s eyes had gotten much worse during the night, dark blue and purple now, her swollen nose not helping with making it look less painful.

“I know”, Holtzmann grumbled, before Erin could say something, “I look like a raccoon.”

“That is _not_ what I was going to say”, Erin gave back at once, shaking her head, “I was going to ask if you’re sure you don’t want to go to the hospital, what if you have a concussion?”

“I’m fine”, the engineer replied immediately, not really surprising the redhead, “I’ve had worse. Ooh, coffee.”

“I hope I made it to your liking”, Erin told her, feeling her cheeks heat up when Holtzmann licked her lips in response and reassured her that she liked all kinds of coffee, reminded of how they almost had kissed the previous evening; again she asked herself what she had been thinking, but even in the light of a new day, she couldn’t bring herself to completely dismiss the idea, instead finding herself wondering yet again what it would be like to kiss the engineer.

_Well, judging from how she looked at you in the bathroom that one time and how she seemed all too ready to kiss back yesterday, she might not mind the idea,_ she thought to herself, pretending to be awfully busy with making ham and eggs so she wouldn’t have to look at Holtzmann, _but this is insane. What if you have some sort of Stockholm Syndrome? Would I recognize it if I had it? She might be nice to me and everything but they’re still holding me captive here…_

She glanced down on the device around her ankle, and remembered what Holtzmann had said about it; she hadn’t dared to find out how bad the thing would actually shock her, should she try to leave the house, and had no interest to learn, but it made it obvious that she was a prisoner, no matter how nice Holtzmann might actually be to her.

“Food should almost be done”, she said out loud, eager to distract herself; belatedly, she realized that Holtzmann apparently trusted her enough at this point to eat and drink what she was making, since she was pouring herself a coffee at this very moment, even though Erin could have put drain cleaner in it, for all the engineer knew.

Then, the blonde paused, and for a second, Erin wondered if she just had had the same thought; she expected Holtzmann to hold the cup out to her and demand she drink first, but instead, the engineer put it down on the counter, then moved to the window, frowning to herself, shushing Erin when the physicist tried to ask what was wrong.

“There’s a couple of gas grenades in the box beneath my living room workbench”, she then said, keeping her voice low, Erin staring at her in confusion, following her to the living room when she moved there with fast strides, grabbing something which looked like a crazily modified gun from her workspace, “if anyone who’s not me gets in here, toss them at them and then lock yourself up somewhere. Try not to breathe it in yourself.”

“What’s going on?!” Erin demanded to know, only to fall silent as she heard the approaching engine of a car; Holtzmann just gave her a brief look and gestured at her to be quiet, then hurried to the front door and stepped outside, Erin, after a moment of stunned stupor, rushing to the nearest window and peering outside, feeling her heart speed up at the two cars which were approaching the house.

She couldn’t see Holtzmann from her position, but apparently, whoever was coming to the house could, since a man leaned out of the passenger side window of the leading car – and aimed a gun, Erin crying out in shock and fear when he started firing, the shots awfully loud even through the closed windows and doors.

Dropping down to the floor, Erin covered her ears with both hands, squeezing her eyes shut; she felt like throwing up and screaming, panic tightening an iron band around her chest, her mind running wild.

_What if they hurt her or kill her? What will they do to you? And she doesn’t deserve it to get hurt, she’s been nice to you and took care of you, you can’t let them hurt her…_

She remembered what Holtzmann had said about the grenades beneath her workbench, and quickly crawled to get them, not sure if they would be much help out in the open, but figuring that she had to do _something_ ; she quickly found the box, a large cardboard one which held several smaller ones, one of them labelled with “Holtz Stinkers”, but that wasn’t the one which gained her attention.

The one labelled with “Holtz FlashBang” did.

Quickly, Erin grabbed the box, figuring she was smart enough to figure out how these things worked – she had been called a genius several times, after all – and ran for the door; upon pushing it open, she saw that by now, the men had parked the cars and had gotten out, counting five of them, all of them with their guns out, nobody firing though, causing fear to clench up her heart as she couldn’t help but wonder if Holtzmann already had been shot, the blonde nowhere in sight.

“Who the fuck are you”, one of them demanded to know as he saw Erin, but she didn’t bother answering him; instead, she pulled one of the FlashBangs from the box, and one look was enough to see how they worked, her heart racing in her chest as she pushed the button on it, then threw it, the men yelping as they hurried for cover.

Despite her fear and panic, Erin had aimed surprisingly well, the egg-shaped black grenade landing close to one of the cars; she squeezed her eyes shut just in time, then it exploded with a loud bang, the men yelling as the bright flash of light blinded them, the physicist taking a second to make sure she could look again before she threw another one.

“Erin!” she heard Holtzmann call out from her right, and glanced over, seeing the blonde peer around the house’s corner, looking both surprised and impressed, gesturing at her urgently, “get back inside before they recover!”

One of them did just that in this very moment, and aimed his gun again, trying to take down Holtzmann even though Erin was the one who held a box with grenades; the blonde yelped as she ducked back behind her cover, and without thinking, Erin took a step outside, eager to help her in any way she could.

It was one step too much, and it set off the device around her ankle; she heard a brief sound reminding her of the one she had heard when Holtzmann had tasered the man who’d molested her, then pain exploded along her leg, she couldn’t even cry out as her muscles cramped up and she fell, tears springing to her eyes while all the breath got knocked out of her lungs.

“Erin!” she heard Holtzmann shout through the haze of pain; the electricity stopped running through her system, and even though her sight was blurred by tears and her whole body was trembling, Erin forced herself to throw another grenade, loud shots coming up a second after it had detonated, two of the men going down before their companions grabbed them and loaded them into their cars, clearly deciding that it was time to beat a hasty retreat.

Holtzmann kept firing as the attackers started up the engines, and for good measure, Erin threw another grenade; then, the device went off again and her teeth snapped together as the electricity hit her once more, barely registering how the cars drove off.

She felt hands grasp her beneath the armpits and pull her up, only able to let out a weak groan though; making reassuring noises, Holtzmann pulled her back into the house, and the moment she was over the threshold, the electricity stopped, and Erin went limp in the other woman’s arms, trying to regulate her breathing as Holtzmann held her and rubbed her back, telling her that it’d be okay and that she was sorry, until the trembling had stopped and she could breathe steadily again.


	11. Chapter 11

“Here”, Holtzmann said as she came back from the kitchen with a glass of water, “that should help, at least a bit. Are you sure you didn’t bite your tongue?”

“Yes”, Erin mumbled from where she laid on the bed, Holtzmann having insisted that she had to lie down after she’d convinced herself that the men were gone and wouldn’t come back, “I’m fine, Holtzmann, really.”

“You are not fine, you got electrocuted twice”, the engineer gave back at once, handing her the glass of water and sitting down on the edge of the bed, “I’m really sorry, it wasn’t supposed to be that strong and certainly shouldn’t have gone off a second time. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, _I’m_ okay”, Erin told her again, touched by genuinely dismayed the blonde appeared to be, and how bad she obviously felt, “I’m just glad none of us got hurt. Who were these guys?”

“From the messed up deal yesterday, I imagine”, Holtzmann sighed, then grumbled, “they must have followed us when they dropped me off here. Not sure why they would go after me first, but, well…”

“Well, you’re the one who makes crazy grenades at her house”, Erin pointed out, earning a low snort from the engineer; she smiled at her, then, feeling daring, reached out and grasped her hand, noting the flash of surprise on Holtzmann’s face at the gentle contact.

“And I’m really glad you’re okay”, she was eager to get this point across, making it clear to Holtzmann that she meant this and wasn’t just saying it, squeezing the other woman’s hand for emphasis, “that was the scariest thing I ever experienced, and if you had gotten hurt, I… it would have been bad.”

She wondered again then if she possibly had Stockholm Syndrome, and Holtzmann seemed to have similar thoughts, since she looked honestly baffled; Erin felt herself blush, but neither looked away, nor pulled back her hand, her heartrate spiking when the engineer ran her thumb over her knuckles.

“You didn’t forget I’m sort of holding you captive here, did you”, Holtzmann reminded her of their rather peculiar situation; Erin mumbled “No” – before she used her hold on the other woman’s hand to tug her closer, only to frown when Holtzmann raised her free hand to stop her before she could pull her close enough for a kiss.

“Erin”, the blonde started, having to swallow heavily before she could go on, “what… what are you doing?”

“I’m about to kiss you”, Erin replied, not giving her the chance to protest again; instead, she closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to the blonde’s, and for a moment, when Holtzmann didn’t react at all, she almost expected the other woman to push her away and ask her if she had lost her mind.

Then, Holtzmann kissed her back, with such fervour that it surprised Erin quite a bit; this was a reaction way better than being pushed away though, and it only got more positive when she felt Holtzmann’s hand slide beneath her shirt and caress the heated skin of her back, reciprocating at once by wrapping both arms around the other woman, moaning into her mouth when the engineer’s hand slid to her front and cupped her breast.

Apparently though, the noise snapped Holtzmann out of her passion-induced stupor, since all at once, she pulled back from the kiss; she shook her head, then practically hopped off the bed, Erin staring at her with confusion and a bit of pain.

“This is a bad idea”, Holtzmann said, running both hands through her hair nervously, “this… it can never work out. Not in a thousand years. If you’re not just doing this to lull me in and then run.”

“What, no!” Erin protested at once, shaking her head to underline her words, “I’d never do that! Trust me, if I was acting, you’d know… You’ve grown to mean something to me the past days Holtzmann, I’m not…”

“Okay, maybe not”, Holtzmann conceded, still at a safe distance to her though, “but even if you’re not doing this to get out of this whole mess, it wouldn’t work. Come on! I’m part of a crime gang and you’re our prisoner, how do you think this could ever work?”

Erin wasn’t quite sure what to reply to this, and so, just looked back at her helplessly; and after a moment, Holtzmann mumbled “I have to go” and rushed out of the room, Erin slumping back down onto the bed while she heard the front door open and close, staring up at the ceiling as her mind ran wild and she tried to figure out how to make this better.

* * *

 

Figuring that she might as well talk to her boss face to face about what had happened with the other gang, and that the drive would help her clear her mind, Holtzmann got into her car and drove off without looking back at the house; the device was still around Erin’s ankle, so she knew the physicist wouldn’t run while she was gone, her grip on the steering wheel tightening as she thought of the other woman.

Her lips still tingled from the kiss, and she realized that it had been a while since someone had kissed her like that, with such passion; it hadn’t felt like a kiss which was meant to make her lower her guard, but if that was the reason why Erin had kissed her, surely she would have given her best to make it seem real and genuine…

Holtzmann let out a groan and fought the urge to slam her head down onto the steering wheel, once more realizing why she preferred it to work alone in her lab all day – she understood her machines and how they worked, and they never made her feel as confused as Erin had when she had kissed her.

Grumbling to herself, Holtzmann drove a bit faster than the law allowed it, tires screeching when she stopped in front of Gorin’s house; and clearly, her boss hadn’t expected her, looking up from her paperwork in surprise when she came marching into the elder woman’s office.

“Holtzmann”, she greeted, raising an eyebrow as she put her pen down and looked at the engineer, not appearing all too perturbed by the bruising and the obviously broken nose, “what is it? I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I wasn’t expecting a surprise visit from the bastards who tried to stiff us the other day”, Holtzmann replied, dropping down into the chair in front of Gorin’s desk, as always when she did so feeling a brief surge of pride – after all, she was the only one of Gorin’s henchmen who was allowed to sit without having the elder woman offer said seat to her first, “and they still showed up at my place and started shooting. We got rid of them, but we have to do something about them.”

“We?” Gorin repeated, raising an eyebrow; Holtzmann shrugged, then nodded, holding back the urge to put her feet up on the table – she might be allowed to use the chair without asking, but not even she was ballsy enough to place her feet on her boss’ desk.

“Erin helped”, she told the elder woman, earning another eyebrow raise, “she tossed out a few FlashBangs to distract them.”

“Did she”, Gorin replied, making the blonde nod again, “interesting. Rowan did mention that you just let her walk around freely in the house. I guess that turned out to be the right call to make.”

“Yeah”, Holtzmann agreed, unaware that her boss had immediately noticed the way her eyes had lit up when she had said Erin’s name, “and I did put one of the shock anklets on her so she can’t run off.”

“I trust your judgement”, Gorin let her know, earning another brief nod, “and your engineering skills. As long as she won’t make trouble. And as for these men who dropped by at your place uninvited, you’re right, we have to do something about them. Leave this to me.”

“You sure you don’t want any help with that?” Holtzmann wanted to know, her turn to raise an eyebrow; Gorin shook her head, then gave her a small smile, a hard glint entering her eyes as she replied. “Not for now. I want you to head back and make sure our guest stays put. I’m having someone look into her background, perhaps we can ransom her.”

“What about the boyfriend”, Holtzmann asked, even though she didn’t really care much about the man; Gorin shrugged and told her they were working on that, then asked her if she needed anything else, making it clear that she had been dismissed for the time being.

“No”, the engineer thus said, getting up from her seat, “I’ll head back to our guest and make sure she’s… not up to anything. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I’ll keep you updated”, Gorin promised her, and after another nod, Holtzmann left her office; she didn’t feel like going back to the house, but the orders she had been given were clear, and so, she got into her car and drove back home, feeling oddly nervous, the feeling only growing the closer she got to her destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody! Check out this awesome drawing rootproxy (rootproxy.tumblr.com) made for this fic :D This is exactly as I imagined Holtz to look, haha.   
> http://dreamshapers-universe.tumblr.com/image/155426652514


	12. Chapter 12

While Holtzmann had been gone, Erin had kept busy, trying to figure out how to handle this; she didn’t regret kissing Holtzmann, it had felt good and oddly right to do so, and while part of her still worried that she might suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, another, bigger part claimed that her feelings for the engineer were genuine and that she should act on them again, that somehow, she had to prove to Holtzmann that she meant it and hadn’t just kissed her to make her lower her guard so she could run off.

So, as she waited for Holtzmann to come back, Erin tried to find the right words to make Holtzmann see that she had meant it; for now, she ignored the other points the engineer had made, namely that this would never work, what with her working for the people who actually were holding her in this place against her will, not having an answer for this dilemma yet, but not willing to let it stop her, either.

Her heart sped up when she heard the door open, but she remained where she was, sitting at the desk she’d been using the past few days, notebook open in front of her, even though she hadn’t done much work since she had gotten out of bed and had found Holtzmann gone.

“I’m back”, Holtzmann said unnecessarily as she stepped into the living room, “anything happen while I was gone?”

“No”, Erin replied, wondering if the engineer had decided to act as if the kiss hadn’t happened and immediately filled with resolve that she wouldn’t do her the favour to play along, putting her pen down as she came to her feet.

“We need to talk”, she said, giving her best to sound somewhat stern, even though her voice wavered a bit at the look Holtzmann shot her, the engineer’s eyes filled with worry and apprehension; telling herself that she could do this, that she had to do this, Erin walked over to where the blonde was standing and grasped her hand, glad when at least, Holtzmann didn’t pull back.

“We can’t just ignore what happened”, Erin went on, running her thumb over the other woman’s knuckles when the corner of the blonde’s mouth twitched, as if she had bitten into something foul, “and I know you have no reason to believe me, but I didn’t just kiss you to… I don’t know, make you lower your guard so I can run off. Maybe this isn’t the healthiest way for anything to develop between us, but I know I have feelings for you, and I don’t want to act like it never happened.”

“That is one way to put it”, Holtzmann dryly replied, “not the healthiest way for anything to develop. Okay, so, let’s assume we do start… something. Dating. Whatever. What happens once Gorin decides it’s time to let you go? She’s trying to find out if you can be ransomed, you know, you just gonna come back then from your regular life and go on dates with me?”

“I’m afraid she won’t have much luck with ransom”, Erin replied, the carefully neutral tone of her voice immediately telling Holtzmann that there was something the physicist wasn’t telling her, “but yes, sure, why not. It’s not like I don’t know your job and will get a nasty surprise one day, right?”

“Why not”, Holtzmann echoed, clearly not having expected this answer, “are you serious? You think you know my job, but you haven’t seen all of it yet, trust me. You should know what you’re getting into, it’s not like some TV show, you know.”

“Well, what I have seen might not be exactly legal, but you’re not going around assassinating people”, Erin pointed out, making Holtzmann frown slightly, “and I don’t know what you guys do exactly, but you didn’t just kill me when you captured me, and you said yourself your boss doesn’t like it to kill random innocent people. So I imagine you’re not a bunch of crazy sadist serial killers.”

“Jesus”, Holtzmann mumbled, running both hands down her face, clearly not having expected this from Erin at all, “I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. You want to know how I got this scar?”

She gestured at her face, and even though it had come a bit out of nowhere, Erin nodded, not quite sure what to expect, but figuring that there was a reason Holtzmann suddenly wanted to tell her, perhaps some gruesome tale with which she would try to scare her off.

“It happened shortly after I started working for Gorin”, Holtzmann told her, “some guys from a rival group decided they wanted to send her a message, so they jumped me one evening, three of them. They were planning to carve up both sides of my face, it’s called a Glasgow Smile.”

“I’ve heard of it”, Erin gave back, swallowing at the thought – she had known that the wound had to have been deep, judging from the severity of the scarring, and she couldn’t imagine how painful it had been for the engineer to have someone cut her like that, her heart clenching up as she imagined two shadowy figures holding the blonde down while a third one sliced into her cheek with his knife, her mind going into overdrive and even adding Holtzmann’s pained screams to the mental image.

_The blood probably ran into her mouth and she choked on it,_ her mind unhelpfully supplied, and she rigorously shut that thought down before it could go any further, Holtzmann continuing a moment later, her next words making the physicist’s blood run cold.

“They were planning that, but as you can see, it didn’t quite work out”, Holtzmann went on, gesturing at the unharmed side of her face, “because I broke free, took the guy’s knife and killed all three of them. So. Still want to start something with me?”

“You’re not a bad person”, Erin replied, clearly saying the last thing Holtzmann had expected, the blonde giving her another surprised look, “even if you try to convince me that you are. Yes, what you just told me is frightening, but I know you have a good heart, you’ve shown me that you do the past few days. You won’t scare me off.”

She took a step closer to the blonde, glad when Holtzmann didn’t move away, even though the engineer still looked somewhat apprehensive and a bit worried; holding the younger woman’s gaze, Erin reached up with her free hand, taking note of how Holtzmann’s breath hitched when she trailed her fingertips over the scar, following the jagged white line from the engineer’s ear to the corner of her mouth – before she moved her hand to cup Holtzmann’s jaw and kissed her again, determined to make it clear to the engineer that she hadn’t been scared off.

When Erin had kissed her the first time, it had taken Holtzmann a few seconds to respond; this time, she kissed her back at once, wrapping both arms around her, finding herself struggling to hold back a moan when Erin pressed herself against her.

She tried to tell herself again that this was wrong, that it would never work, that Erin perhaps wasn’t even in her right mind, after having been held captive for days; still she found herself unable to break the kiss, and when Erin’s hand slid from her face to entangle in her hair, her resolve weakened even further.

“This must be the worst idea I’ve ever had”, Holtzmann mumbled after the kiss, briefly making Erin worry that she’d tell her yet again that they couldn’t do this, that it wouldn’t work out, “and I still think you don’t know what you’re getting into but…”

“Stop worrying”, Erin gave back, then pulled her closer again for another kiss; part of her agreed that this was a horrible idea, that it only could end in tragedy, but she refused to acknowledge this, telling herself instead that they could make it work, somehow, no matter what a strange beginning for a relationship this whole situation was.


	13. Chapter 13

It was strange, Erin thought to herself, how much their kisses had changed the atmosphere between them; now that Holtzmann apparently had decided to stop worrying indeed, she seemed much more relaxed than she had been in the previous days, smiling at her every now and then, and, whenever she walked past Erin’s desk on her way to get another tool or something from the kitchen, gently touching her back or her arm, making the physicist smile each time.

When evening came, they had dinner together, then, for the first time since Erin had been taken to this place, they snuggled on the couch as they watched a movie together; and it didn’t take long until the snuggles turned into quite the passionate make-out session, both Erin and Holtzmann for the moment forgetting their doubts about this relationship.

“You know”, Erin mumbled as they pulled apart for air, running her fingers through the other woman’s hair and taking note of how the engineer’s breath hitched, “perhaps, you shouldn’t sleep here on this couch tonight.”

“Why Dr Gilbert”, Holtzmann gave back, raising an eyebrow, clearly not having expected that, “aren’t you quite forward.”

“Don’t pretend you mind”, Erin told her, then kissed her again; she remembered well how good it had felt to have Holtzmann’s hand beneath her shirt and on her back, and apparently, Holtzmann remembered, too, fabric rustling softly as she pushed the redhead’s shirt up for easier access to her heated skin.

“Bedroom?” Erin suggested in a breathless voice as they pulled apart once more, earning a brief nod from Holtzmann; they didn’t talk as they made their way there, but no words were necessary, even though some of the engineer’s passion puffed away when Erin pulled off her shirt and she suddenly remembered the numerous scars all over her upper body.

_Now she’ll realize,_ she thought to herself, not even noticing that she held her breath as Erin’s gaze took in the sight, _she’ll realize how dangerous it is what I do, and how stupid it is to get involved with me._

Apart from the still bandaged cut in her side and the bruising which hadn’t faded yet, there were other, older marks left by injuries; the jagged line of a stab wound close to her navel, the puckered crater left by a bullet she had taken in the shoulder a few years ago, and a handful of thin white lines, slashes she had taken during a knife fight, the engineer feeling oddly self-conscious as Erin just looked, her face unreadable.

Then, the physicist reached out and ran her fingertips over one of the scars, her eyes coming up to meet Holtzmann; and before the engineer had the chance to say or do something, Erin was pulling her closer again and kissed her deeply once more, at the same time guiding the blonde’s hand to her shirt, making it quite clear what she wanted from her.

_This woman is insane,_ Holtzmann thought to herself as she pulled back from the kiss so she could pull Erin’s shirt over her head, _but I guess that’s a good thing for me, or she never would do this._

She kissed Erin again as she ran her hands up the redhead’s sides, to her breasts; Erin arched her back in response, as if she couldn’t get enough of Holtzmann’s hands on her, and when the younger woman unclasped her bra so she could touch her directly, the physicist moaned into her mouth, and the sound send excited tingles up and down Holtzmann’s spine.

It had been too long since she had made a woman moan like that, and she found herself enjoying it even more because it was Erin whom she made sound that way; eager to cause such sounds again, Holtzmann moved to trail her tongue down the other woman’s throat to her chest, earning just the moan she had been hoping for when she flickered her tongue over at first one nipple, then the other.

“Holtz”, Erin groaned as the engineer kissed her way further south, down her stomach, making her shudder by pulling her sweatpants down with her teeth, “if you make me wait any longer, I’ll explode. Now. Please.”

Being called “Holtz” only spurred the engineer on further, and she made short work of the few bits of clothing Erin still had on; and the moment she was naked, Holtzmann ran her tongue over the physicist’s folds, amazed at the wetness she felt and tasted, a clear indication for how turned on the redhead already was.

“God yes”, Erin moaned, one hand moving to entangle in Holtzmann’s hair, clearly needing something to hold on to; her grip on the engineer’s hair tightened as Holtzmann increased her efforts, and when the younger woman added a finger a short while later, Erin let out a wordless mixture of cry and groan, her free hand holding on tight to the blanket now, her whole body shuddering.

“Don’t stop”, she brought out after a short while, moaning again afterwards, the sound causing Holtzmann’s heartrate to spike, “please don’t… oh God, oh _God Holtzmann…_ ”

Hearing that was even better than hearing Erin moan, the physicist trembling beneath her as she came; unable to hold back a somewhat cocky smirk, Holtzmann pulled back, the redhead raising an eyebrow once she had recovered enough to take note of the look on the other woman’s face.

“Cocky, are we”, she then said, surprising the engineer by grabbing her shoulders and practically flipping her around so she ended up on her back, “let’s see if I can wipe that look off your face.”

Holtzmann only smirked wider, and Erin rolled her eyes before she moved in to kiss her, quite eager to get her just as naked as she herself was and to reciprocate the things Holtzmann had done for her and had made her feel.


	14. Chapter 14

A while later, both had dozed off, Holtzmann flat on her back and Erin halfway on top of her, her head resting on the younger woman’s shoulder; they both felt relaxed and content, and if Erin hadn’t felt the device around her ankle each time she moved a bit, she might even have forgotten that she was still a prisoner.

For now though, the thought that she couldn’t leave the house didn’t bother her much; she felt too good to ponder this, after the amazing things Holtzmann had made her feel, and judging from how relaxed and quiet Holtzmann was beneath her, she felt pretty much the same way.

So when the loud ringing sound started, they both jumped, then Holtzmann groaned while Erin sat up, the look of dismay on the engineer’s face prompting the physicist to give her a worried look.

“Gorin”, the blonde explained while she hopped off the bed, clearly not caring the slightest that she was naked; Erin ogled her quite unabashedly, figuring that she could look after the things they had done together, Holtzmann winking at her before she picked up her pants and found the phone in one of the pockets.

“Boss”, she greeted the caller, moving to sit on the bed again; Erin moved to embrace her from behind, and the engineer briefly turned her head to smile at her, then put her free hand over both of Erin’s, the physicist having clasped them in front of the younger woman’s stomach, “what’s up?”

“We have a problem”, Gorin replied, as always going straight to business and not bothering with small talk, “police are investigating the disappearance of our guest. And of course, it’s one of the few detective who we know won’t take any bribes. They’re having an eye on the boyfriend, too, so we can’t grab him for now.”

“Ha, bet they suspect him”, Holtzmann smirked, while Erin raised an eyebrow, not having been able to hear what Gorin had been saying, despite how close to the engineer she was, “they always suspect the boyfriend first.”

“They do”, Gorin confirmed, “one of my contacts confirmed this. Apparently, a friend of our guest told the detective that she went on a date with him, and so far, they’re not sure if they can believe his wild tale about gangsters killing someone at the harbour and then kidnapping his girlfriend. Find out what you can about one Dr Abby Yates, just in case we need to… do something about her.”

“Will do”, Holtzmann gave back, earning a “good” before Gorin ended the call; the engineer tossed the phone onto the bed carelessly, then looked at Erin, raising an eyebrow as she gave a quick recap of the conversation, not for a second even considering to lie about it and keep anything from the physicist.

“They can’t get your boyfriend because police is having an eye on him”, she let Erin know, who rolled her eyes and mumbled “he’s not my boyfriend”, “apparently, they’re investigating your disappearance and someone named Abby Yates tipped them off about your date with him.”

“Oh”, Erin let out, nearly smacking herself for not having thought of the possibility this might happen sooner, “yeah… she’s my friend, I told her about the date. Um… basically my only friend. And yes, I’m aware how pathetic this makes me sound.”

“You’re talking to a socially awkward mad scientist”, Holtzmann reminded her, making her smile slightly, “so no, not pathetic at all. Anyway, the boss is unhappy because she can’t get Phil the Dick as long as the police is having an eye on him, so there’s a risk that this whole thing might blow up.”

“So what does this mean for me?” Erin wanted to know, suddenly worried, “you’re not going to kill me and dump my body at his doorstep now, right?”

She laughed to show that she wasn’t serious, but her laugh sounded nervous and a bit forced; to her relief though, Holtzmann shook her head at once, holding her gaze as she replied, voice firm, but warm, her words making the physicist smile slightly again.

“No, we’re not going to kill you”, the engineer said, “I won’t let that happen. Gorin might be the boss, but I have a bit of a say, too, and I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

She worried then, for a moment, that this revealed too much, that Erin now knew that she was falling for her fast and hard, and would use it against her; Erin just smiled though, and hugged her again, the engineer smiling as she returned the embrace and pulled her in for another kiss, their troubles quickly forgotten again.

* * *

 

Just like Erin had suggested, Holtzmann didn’t sleep on the couch that night; the bed was big enough for both of them to rest comfortably, and with the phone remaining quiet for the rest of the night, they slumbered peacefully until the next morning, Erin being the first to wake up.

To her amusement, Holtzmann wasn’t only a noisy sleeper – she had woken her a few times during the night with her rather loud snoring – but a drooling one, too; shaking her head to herself, the physicist carefully disentangled herself from the sleeping engineer, making sure not to wake her up, before she soundlessly moved into the bathroom, only to find that Holtzmann had woken up while she had been gone and was just sitting up in bed when Erin stepped back into the bedroom.

“Good morning”, the engineer drawled, unabashedly eying her, and reminding her of the fact that she was fully naked, not having bothered to put on any clothing, and she blushed, not quite used to someone looking at her with such open desire.

“Good morning to you, too”, she said, her cheeks still warm as she walked to the bed and sat down on it for a brief good morning kiss; afterwards, Holtzmann mumbled “Breakfast?” and made Erin raise an eyebrow, chuckling before she clarified. “Actual breakfast with food. But that other kind of breakfast you implied with the look you gave me could be had after the one with food.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about”, Erin replied, batting her eyelashes in perfect innocence and earning a snort from the blonde, “but before breakfast, you know, I prefer to have a shower. And it can be really difficult to wash my back so, maybe, you could help me with that…?”

“Oh, certainly”, Holtzmann replied solemnly, “can’t have you walk around with a dirty back, can I.”

Erin nodded just as seriously, then gave up and giggled; the engineer smirked and got out of bed, and they made their way into the bathroom together, doing decidedly more than just cleaning up there, and thus taking quite a bit longer than normal, too.

“Well, I guess we are very clean now”, Erin commented when they finally got out of the shower again and got dressed, earning another smirk from the blonde, “so we can have breakfast now. Actual breakfast, with food.”

Holtzmann chuckled and nodded, took hold of her wrist though before she could walk out of the bathroom; she cleared her throat, then mumbled “Wait”, Erin giving her a curious look, both eyebrows shooting up when Holtzmann went down on one knee in front of her, the realization what the engineer was doing coming a second later as she felt calloused, but tender fingers on her ankle, followed by a soft snapping sound as Holtzmann opened the device around her ankle.

“Maybe this is a dumb thing to do”, the engineer said as she straightened up again and let the thing drop into her pocket, “but… if we’re going to do… this, whatever it is, I’m not going to treat you like a prisoner. I trust you to not run off at the first chance you get.”

Part of her was sure that Erin would laugh at her now and knock her down, tell her how stupid she had been before she’d run off and straight to the police; instead, the physicist just smiled though, then said “Thank you”, briefly touching Holtzmann’s hand and making her smile back at her.

_Don’t be relieved too early,_ she then told herself, holding back a frown as they walked to the kitchen together to finally make breakfast, _you’ll only know for sure if this has been the right thing to do when you have to leave and she’s still here when you come back. Or tomorrow morning, if she doesn’t run off during the night._

“Holtz”, Erin said, snapping her out of her thoughts and making her look at her, again oddly touched by the nickname or pet name or whatever it was, “stop worrying. I’m not going to run. But if you do worry that you made a mistake, you can put that device back on me, I won’t be offended.”

“No”, Holtzmann gave back after a moment, deciding that the ease with which Erin had made this offer was proof enough that she meant it, “like I said, I trust you. If this comes back to bite me in the ass at some point, well, lesson learned then.”

“Nothing will bite you in the ass”, Erin reassured her, then smirked as she reached out and trailed a mark she had left on the other woman’s neck, “but I might bite your neck again like I did yesterday. Unless you didn’t like that.”

“Oh I liked it just fine”, Holtzmann let her know, smirking; Erin smiled back at her and winked, then pulled her in for another kiss, voice and face serious when she spoke up again. “I mean it though. I’m not going to run.”

Holtzmann shrugged, then nodded, moving on to the fridge afterwards, clearly done with the topic; while she looked for food, Erin started the coffee machine, feeling oddly free now that the device had been removed, even though she hadn’t even considered asking about it, glad that the engineer had displayed such trust in her.

She wondered briefly what the blonde’s boss would say, should she somehow find out about this; she didn’t doubt that Holtzmann had a say about several things with the woman, quite certain that taking her to this place, away from the other henchmen, hadn’t been Gorin’s idea, but had come from Holtzmann, in an attempt to protect her and make sure no other guy would get the idea to molest her.

Thinking of the man who had done just that made her wonder what had happened to him, after all, Gorin hadn’t seemed all too happy about what he had done; then, she shrugged it off, telling herself that in the long run, it wasn’t important, after all, she was away from there and wouldn’t go back there anytime soon.

As they sat down for breakfast, she realized how relaxed and content she felt, and not just because the device had been removed; even though she technically still was a prisoner, she enjoyed being with Holtzmann like this, just the two of them, a pleasant tingle running up and down her spine as she thought of the things they had done the previous night.

“You know”, she said out loud, after taking a sip of coffee, “I expected quite a few things to happen when those guys kidnapped me, none of them pleasant, and certainly not as pleasant as this. I’m really glad your boss decided you should keep an eye on me.”

“So am I”, Holtzmann reassured her, smirking, “and trust me, I certainly didn’t expect that, either. Actually, I was a bit miffed that she wanted me to babysit you like that.”

“Aw”, Erin let out, earning a small chuckle from the engineer; she smiled at her, then reached over the table to grasp her hand, clearing her throat and earning a questioning look from the other woman.

“There’s something I want to ask from you”, she said, Holtzmann giving a brief nod to signal that she should continue; she frowned a bit when Erin started to explain what she wanted from her, nodded again though after a moment, earning a grateful smile and a kiss from the physicist, not quite sure if she was doing the right thing, but figuring that she could do this for the redhead, if only to make her happy.


	15. Chapter 15

Holtzmann was perfectly aware that her face didn’t exactly make her blend into a crowd, and so, she made sure that most of it was hidden beneath the hood of her jacket; that, perhaps, made her stand out as well, but it would be less conspicuous than openly showing her face, and “someone in a hood” would certainly be harder to identify than “a woman with a very distinct scar on her face”.

It had been a while since she’d been on a campus, but she didn’t let that deter her, eager to do this for Erin; the physicist had given her very good directions, and so, it didn’t take long until she stood in front of the door labelled “Dr Abby L. Yates”, clearing her throat before she knocked, then reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope Erin had given her.

The door was opened a short while later, by a short woman Erin’s age, brunette hair pulled back into a loose bun and glasses on her nose; she eyed Holtzmann curiously as she said “Yes?”, then nodded when Holtzmann asked if she was Abby Yates, her eyes going wide when the blonde held the envelope out to her and at what she said next.

“This is from Erin Gilbert”, Holtzmann told her, Abby staring at her with her mouth open, “she’s fine, and she’ll be back soon. She wants you to not worry until then.”

“What?” Abby squawked, accepting the envelope almost automatically, “how do you… who are you?”

“A friend”, Holtzmann replied, not giving her the chance to ask anything as she turned and quickly walked away; she heard Abby call out after her, but didn’t pause or look back, relieved when the woman didn’t follow her, knowing what a risk she had just had taken, but figuring that it had been worth it – perhaps, with the letter explaining that Erin was indeed fine, in her own handwriting no less, Abby would be calmed down at least for a while.

And perhaps, Holtzmann thought to herself as she walked back to her car, this might even help with making the detective Gorin had mentioned stop; she doubted this, since Erin technically still was missing, and Phil certainly stuck to his story about mysterious men kidnapping his date, but she had been able to tell how much it meant to Erin when the physicist had asked her for this favour, and simply hadn’t been able to say no.

She got into her car and whistled along to the radio as she drove back to the house, looking forward to arriving there; not only was work waiting for her, but Erin, too, and the redhead had given her quite the seductive wink when she had left and had suggested that perhaps, they could do a repeat performance of the previous night once she’d get back, the engineer looking forward to this even more than to working on her various projects.

The drive took a while, but finally, she parked in front of the house, smiling to herself as she got out of the car; there was a slight spring in her step as she walked to the front door, only for her smile to fade when she moved to insert her key into the lock and the door swung open slowly, as if to mock her.

_No._ The thought flashed through her brain and made her blood run cold, and she barely noticed how the keys fell from her hand as she entered the house; she called out “Erin?”, with the small hope that perhaps, the physicist just had gone to get fresh air and then had forgotten to lock the door when she had come back, but when no response came, that tiny hope was shattered pretty quickly.

“Erin?” Holtzmann tried again, even though she knew there would be answer, she _knew_ ; she had trusted Erin, had foolishly trusted her, and now, she was paying for that, her hands trembling when she ran them down her face. _She played you. She played you perfectly, with the sweet words and the kissing and the sex and then sending you on this errand. You’re an idiot to think she meant any of the things she said._

It hurt, more than she wanted to admit to herself; not willing to wallow in self-pity though, knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere, Holtzmann steeled herself against the pain, then pulled out her phone and called her boss, her voice remarkably steady when she got right to the point a second after Gorin had taken the call.

“We got a problem”, she said, deciding not to mention how exactly Erin had managed to get away without ending up electrocuted on the doorstep, “I was out on an errand and she’s gone.”

“She is”, Gorin confirmed, and Holtzmann’s blood ran cold, “but we don’t have a problem anymore. You’ll thank me for this later, Holtzmann, but I have to say, I’m disappointed, you should have known better than starting an affair with a hostage.”

“What did you do”, Holtzmann asked tonelessly, images of Erin lying dead in a ditch somewhere flashing up in her mind’s eye; she could almost picture Gorin’s shrug, and suddenly, the ice in her veins was replaced with white-hot anger, her free hand clenching into a fist and her grip on the phone tightening until the plastic creaked in protest.

“Rowan took care of it”, Gorin let her know, still sounding quite indifferent, “I didn’t ask about details. I suggest you forget about this woman and go back to work.”

“Back to work”, Holtzmann echoed, “yeah. I’ll go back to work.” She hung up and pocketed her phone, her blood rushing in her ears when she moved to one of her workbenches; it didn’t take long until she had found what she had been looking for, slipping the object in her pocket, feeling strangely detached as she walked back to her car.

_Are you really going to do this?_ The small part of her which was still loyal to Gorin, despite this betrayal, wanted to know, _if you do this now, and if they killed her already, you’ll have no one. Neither the gang, nor Erin. You know Gorin won’t forgive this._

It amazed her a bit that she didn’t care much if this would be forgiven or not, no matter if Erin was alive or had been killed already; for years, Rebecca Gorin had been the only person she’d trusted, the woman she had looked up to and had loved working for, but now, after this, all Holtzmann felt when she thought of the elder woman was dull disappointment and bright anger, and she knew that she couldn’t just go on as if nothing had happened.

And so, she drove to the house where she knew Gorin would be at this time of the day; the elder woman appeared mildly surprised when she stepped into her office, but either missed the anger on her face or didn’t care about it, but Rowan saw it, swallowing nervously as his gaze met Holtzmann’s.

“Tell me what you did to her”, Holtzmann demanded, prompting Gorin to raise an eyebrow; she looked as if she wanted to say something, but before she could, the engineer reached into her pocket and pulled out the egg-shaped grenade she had brought, a cold smile curling her lips as she continued. “Tell me, or I’ll activate this.”

“And kill yourself?” Gorin wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, “that seems a bit drastic, no?”

“Kill myself and everyone in this building”, Holtzmann replied, her smile widening when the elder woman was visibly alarmed, “if the bang doesn’t take you out, then the radiation will. Mad scientist, remember? I think you forgot just how mad exactly I can be.”

“Tell her, Rowan”, Gorin said after a moment, clearly not thinking that Holtzmann was bluffing; the man swallowed again, looking as if he was about to cry now, not exactly behaviour fitting for a gangster, Holtzmann thought to herself… then he answered her, and she felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her. And judging from the way Gorin stared at him, she had been unaware of this, as well.

“Um, I’ve… sold her”, he mumbled, “to… Johnson and his people.”

“Johnson”, Gorin repeated, her tone cold now, “you sold her to a brothel owner? You think this was what I had in mind when I told you to take care of this?!”

“They paid well for her!” Rowan tried to defend himself, while Holtzmann just stared at him – she’d never worked with the man Rowan had mentioned personally, but she knew what he did, and she knew what would await Erin in the place the man owned, “I took them there and they said she’s hot and that they’d have good use for her, I made us a lot of money.”

Holtzmann got moving before Gorin had the chance to say anything, and Rowan squawked in fear when she, without a word, shoved the grenade down his pants; Gorin looked as if she wanted to protest, then apparently changed her mind, leaning back into her chair instead, quite relaxed even though there was a man with a grenade in his pants right next to her now.

“Holtzmann”, she said as the blonde started to walk towards the exit, “with this new… development, I’ll give you that one. You are free to get her out, but you can not see her again afterwards. And before you answer, keep in mind that I was the one to take you in when no else would have you, and what I’ve done for you the past years.”

“Fuck you”, Holtzmann replied evenly, not even bothering to look at her; she marched to the door while Gorin glared at her back, then stopped and turned back after all, her gaze fixed on Rowan though, the smile which curled her lips hard and cruel.

“As for you”, she said, winking at him as he stood there pale and sweaty, “don’t make any sudden movements, or no more fucking for you. Toodles!”

She halfway expected Gorin to call after her, or perhaps try to shoot her; instead, nothing at all happened, and when she pulled the door close behind herself, she knew that she was closing the door on this chapter of her life, but couldn’t have cared less, only eager to get Erin out of the mess Rowan had put her in before it’d be too late.


	16. Chapter 16

The past few days certainly had been exciting for Detective Patty Tolan, but not even years on the force and the fact that she had been investigating what might be a case of kidnapping by one of the city’s more notorious crime gangs could have prepared her for what awaited her just after her lunch break.

After all, it didn’t happen every day that she found a stranger in her car when she came back out of the restaurant, the strangely familiar blonde giving her a wave and saying “Hi” – and then pointing a gun in her face before she could do more than blink.

“Hear me out before you say or do anything”, the blonde said, Patty at the same time realizing why she seemed familiar – she had seen that face before, after all, on mugshots, her mind racing as she tried to remember the person’s name – Holdman? Holsmar? – and to come up with a way out of this.

“I have an offer for you”, the woman went on, and her name came to Patty in this very moment, _Dr Jillian Holtzmann, possibly works with Dr Rebecca Gorin,_ a memory which was proven right seconds later as Holtzmann went on, “if you help me out now, I’ll give you all the info on the gang of Dr Gorin you need to arrest each and every one of them, her included. And you’ll get to bust a man who runs a brothel where at least one woman is held against her will.”

“…go on”, Patty said, even though this went against everything she knew and had learned during her years on the force; something about the way the woman was looking at her though made her agree, a quiet desperation in the blonde’s eyes, and she didn’t want to risk setting her off and getting shot.

Holtzmann gave her a quick recap of what had happened in reply, starting with what Erin had seen and how she had gotten kidnapped and ending with finding out what Rowan had done; Patty felt sick at that last bit, not wishing this on anyone, and certainly not on an innocent woman who just had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We have to get her out of there, but I can’t do it alone”, Holtzmann went on, lowering the gun and giving her a perfect chance to attack, but she remained motionless, “and I know you’re investigating Erin’s disappearance, so you can close that case then, too.”

“I should arrest you now”, Patty replied, perhaps not the wisest thing to say, after all, Holtzmann still had the gun in her hand, “and just bust them on my own without you. But if I do that, I can’t get that gang, too, and I got the feeling this woman is quite important to you.”

“She is”, Holtzmann gave back, “and if you’re not going to help me, tell me now, because every minute I waste here then is time they could be doing God knows what to her. I’ll just leave then and I’m not going to hurt you but… I can’t do it alone. Help me. Please.”

Her voice trembled at the last few words, just the tiniest bit, but enough to let Patty notice; and before she could think about it too much, and realize how insane this was, she nodded, the relief of the blonde almost palpable.

“Tell me where to go”, she said while Holtzmann put the gun away and slumped back into the seat, mildly surprised when the engineer gave her the address of a rather well-known nightclub in response – before she figured that this made sense, if the man was running an illegal brothel, the club would be a good cover, a place to find clients and to launder the money he’d make with the women.

“Man, you better not make me regret this”, she said as she drove; Holtzmann let out an unarticulated noise in reply, staring out the window, her grip on the gun white-knuckled, but Patty could tell at once that this had nothing to do with her.

“Hey”, she went on, “Dr Holtzmann, right? Jillian? Your girl’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna get her out of there.”

“Just Holtzmann is fine”, the engineer mumbled, not bothering to ask how the detective knew her name; she let out a shaky breath, unable to push the horrible mental images of what Erin might be going through in this very moment out of her mind, running a shaky hand down her face, cursing herself for having let this happen.

She should have known better, she thought to herself, should have known that Gorin would figure it out immediately that something was happening between Erin and her, that she perhaps even had sent someone to watch them to confirm it, and that she wouldn’t just let it happen, all too aware of the danger this would cause for their business.

“If they do something to her it’s my fault”, she said tonelessly, for the first time since having come back to the house to find Erin gone having a moment quiet and calm enough to let this truth come to the surface, “I should have protected her and I didn’t…”

“She’s gonna be fine”, Patty repeated, hoping she wasn’t giving the blonde false hope – she was sitting next to a criminal who had practically forced her at gunpoint into doing this, but she could tell how much the woman was hurting, and her compassionate nature made it hard for her to ignore this obvious pain, “c’mon, you said they took her like a few hours ago. She’s gonna be fine.”

“There’s a lot which can be done in a few hours”, Holtzmann mumbled, then fell silent and stared out the window; not knowing what to say, Patty kept quiet, as well, and focused on driving, parking the car in front of the nightclub a short while later.

“There we are”, she said, unnecessarily; Holtzmann nodded and got out of the car, Patty following suit, hand on her gun as the engineer strolled to the entrance, the man standing guard there looking up at their approach.

“Sorry ladies”, he said, eying them both, either not noticing their guns or not caring, certainly, guns were no unusual sight in this part of town, “but we’re clos—”

Holtzmann slammed the butt of her gun against his forehead before he even finished the sentence, and he went down without a sound, Patty wincing in sympathy; still she said nothing as the blonde dug through the man’s pockets until she found his keys, unlocking the door leading into the club, figuring that not many would be around there at this time of the day.

_Unless their brothel part operates during the day, too,_ she then realized, shuddering at the thought of some random man assaulting Erin in this very moment; knowing there was only one way to find out though, and only one way to stop it, she turned to look at Patty, even managing a smirk as she brought her gun up and licked the barrel, something she’d been doing for years for good luck, her smirk widening at the look Patty shot her.

“Don’t do that, jeez”, the detective then said, “that’s nasty.”

“Let’s go”, was the only response Holtzmann had to that, and made the other woman sigh; she nodded though, and let the engineer lead the way, Holtzmann entering the club without hesitation, drawing her own gun as she followed the blonde inside, asking herself how she always ended up in these situations.


	17. Chapter 17

There was another man in the main area of the club, and he looked surprised, then worried as Holtzmann aimed the gun at him; he didn’t make a move to grab his own weapon though, but raised his hands before the blonde could say something, clearly realizing that she’d shoot him before he had the chance to get his weapon out of the holster she could see beneath his jacket.

“You brought a woman here today, a redhead”, Holtzmann said, his eyebrow twitching, telling her that he knew whom she was talking about, “where is she?”

“Downstairs”, the guy gave back at once, obviously having decided that it’d be healthier to just tell her what she wanted to know; Holtzmann smiled and, with exceeding politeness, thanked him for his help – before she knocked him out just like the man outside, hoping that no one who might be in the basement had heard the low thump with which his body had hit the ground.

She was quite sure that there would be more guards waiting downstairs, and said just that to Patty; the detective nodded, again asking herself why she was doing this as she followed the engineer to the stairway, staying back while Holtzmann pushed the door open, then peered down the stairs, a bit relieved when she neither heard, nor saw anyone.

Still she gave her best to be quiet as she snuck down the stairs; either, she hadn’t been quiet enough though, or the guards had realized that something was going on – since a bulky man came at her the moment she had reached the bottom of the stairs, the large knife he was holding flashing in the dim light, Patty bringing up her gun to help, only to realize a second later that the positions of the guy and Holtzmann made it impossible for her to shoot, the danger that she might hit the engineer too high to let her take the risk.

She heard Holtzmann grunt, then a low popping sound followed – and the man flinched, and stumbled back, blood pouring from the bullet wound in his stomach, his eyes wide and full of disbelief as he slid to the floor.

“Holtzmann”, Patty half said, half hissed, not wanting to make too much noise as she hurried to the blonde’s side, “you okay?”

“Fine”, Holtzmann gave back at once, moving on without another look at the dying man; Patty followed her, Holtzmann moving to where the hallway formed a corner up ahead and peering around it, only to flinch back as moments later, shots ripped through the silence, narrowly missing the engineer as she had ducked for cover just in time.

Staying down on one knee, she fired around the corner, the two men returning fire at once; Patty moved to help, and fairly quickly, both men were down, the engineer moving on fast, not wanting to waste a minute, quickly opening the doors lining the hallway, getting more and more agitated as she couldn’t find Erin behind the first four she yanked open.

Instead, she found other women, some of them looking frightened, some relieved; Patty told them to get out and to wait outside, that she was from the police, and the girls hurried out without looking back, one of them even pausing to kick one of the men on the ground before she vanished up the stairs.

While Patty appreciated this display of spunk, Holtzmann noticed nothing of it, pulling open the last door, at the far end of the hallway; and the moment she looked into that room, her heart just _stopped_ for a second, then hammered so fast in her chest that it hurt, and she briefly found it hard to breathe, having to close her eyes for a moment to regain her composure.

The only furniture in the room was a bed standing right in the middle, with a metal frame and a mattress which certainly had seen better days; and on this bed, Erin laid, wrists and ankles bound to the frame, eyes closed, even though she let out a groan when Holtzmann said her name in a breathless, weak voice.

“Erin”, Holtzmann tried again, quickly shoving her gun into the waistband of her pants and rushing over to the bed; at least, she thought to herself, the physicist was still dressed, in the clothes she’d had on when Holtzmann had left earlier that day – she could hardly believe that it only had been a few hours since then, it felt more like days – and the clothes didn’t look as if anyone had been trying to remove them, the engineer allowing herself to hope that perhaps, they had made it there in time.

“Erin”, she said for a third time, briefly touching the other woman’s cheek, then hurried to free her from the bonds, momentarily fumbling with the rough rope before she lost her patience and pulled her Swiss army knife from her pocket, using the small, but sharp blade to saw through the rope, “Erin, honey. Wake up, please? For me?”

Erin groaned again in response, eyelids fluttering; Holtzmann said her name yet again as she moved to free her ankles, relief washing over her when finally, Erin’s eyes opened, the physicist looking dazed, but aware enough to realize who was talking to her, a bit of a slur in her voice when she mumbled “Holtz?”, sounding both surprised and glad that she was there.

“The one and only”, Holtzmann gave back, managing a smile as she cut through the last rope, “and here to get you out. Come on, up we go.”

She bent over the physicist to help her up, and briefly, the world greyed around the edges; Holtzmann squeezed her eyes shut for a second, and when she opened them again, the strange effect was gone, and she helped Erin up from the bed, keeping an arm around her waist when the physicist swayed on her feet and slinging one of the other woman’s arms across her shoulders for extra support, holding on to her wrist just in case.

“I feel dizzy”, Erin mumbled as Holtzmann led her to the door, Patty briefly glancing in their direction and looking relieved at the sight of the two; Holtzmann reassured her that certainly, this would stop soon, not quite sure what the guys had used on Erin, but figuring that it had been something which wouldn’t have any lasting effect – after all, she sourly thought to herself, they had paid good money for her, and wouldn’t want to damage their new property, the thought making her blood boil and making her wish that she could kill them all over again.

“Yelp in case you have to puke”, Holtzmann added once she had gotten her anger under control; Erin let out a noise of dismay, but apparently, whatever they had used to knock her out at least hadn’t upset her stomach, and they made it up the stairs and outside without incident, Patty waiting there with the other women the engineer had rescued more or less on accident during her search for the physicist.

The detective took one look at them and frowned while Erin breathed in the fresh air, hoping it would help to clear her head; she still felt dizzy and a bit woozy, but it was getting better, even though she still wasn’t sure for a moment the tall woman with the police badge and the gun was talking to her, until she said her name.

“Baby girl, are you hurt?” the woman wanted to know, giving her a concerned look, “Erin? Dr Gilbert, right? There’s blood on your clothes, are you hurt?”

Erin looked down at herself, stunned to see that there indeed were bloodstains on her pants and her sweatshirt; she felt no pain though, and there was no damage to her clothing, confusion apparent on her face when she looked up at the detective again.

“I don’t think so”, she said, her head clearing further as the stuff they had used to knock her out faded from her system, “I don’t feel any—”

She had a second to notice that Holtzmann’s hold on her wrist was loosening, and that the engineer’s arm was growing heavy on her shoulders; then, Holtzmann’s legs buckled, and Erin’s dizziness evaporated within a second as she grabbed her, her heart skipping a beat when immediately, her hands were slick with blood.

“Holtz!” she heard herself cry out as the other woman’s unexpected weight forced her down onto her knees, the blonde ending up cradled in her arms; she heard Patty say “Oh shit!” behind her, but couldn’t have cared less, her focus fully on the engineer, her stomach turning when she heard a soft _drip drip drip_ and realized what it was.

“Holtzmann”, she said again, not sure if she should pull her closer or perhaps lower her to the ground instead, immediately deciding though that letting go of her wasn’t an option, her heart plummeting to her stomach when the only answer she got was a low groan, “don’t pass out, you hear me? Come on, answer me, tell me where they hurt you, come on…”

“I’m glad I got you out”, Holtzmann mumbled in reply, not acknowledging her question at all, but at least, Erin reasoned, the blonde was still talking, and hadn’t passed out yet, “before they… could hurt you. Gonna be fine, had worse…”

“Of course you’re going to be fine”, Erin told her at once while Patty knelt down next to them, trying to figure out where the engineer had been hurt and asking herself how she had noticed nothing of this, “just tell me where they hurt you so we can fix it, okay? Holtz? Answer me, please.”

“Thought you ran”, Holtzmann told her, voice raspy now, the sound making Erin’s heart clench up, “that hurt. Glad you didn’t run. Sorry I couldn’t protect you, should have done a better job of that… but I’ll protect you now, I promise. I love you.”

Erin’s throat tightened at those last three words, and she had to swallow heavily before she could reply, holding the blonde closer, even though she still wasn’t sure moving her like this was a smart idea.

“I didn’t run”, she told her, “and I love you too, I want to be with you, so you need to stay awake for me, okay? Tell me where they hurt you, we need to fix this Holtz… Holtz?”

The engineer let out a shuddery breath in response, then her body went limp; Erin cried out “Holtz!” again, but didn’t get a response this time, only the sound of blood dripping to the concrete answering her, a sound she knew she’d hear in her nightmares for all the days to come.


	18. Chapter 18

It took a while for events to catch up with Erin, and only when she was sitting next to the couch Holtzmann was resting on, and had a moment to just sit and think, she fully realized everything which had happened, the men who had taken her from the house and that Holtzmann had come to her rescue, and she felt like throwing up as she realized what would have been done to her in the little room she had woken up in, had Holtzmann not come.

Briefly, her hold on the engineer’s hand tightened, then she forced herself to loosen up, not wanting to wake the blonde – the man Patty had taken them to, her cousin, she had claimed, normally a veterinarian, but someone who’d be able to fix Holtzmann up nonetheless and would keep quiet about it, had given her painkillers before he had started his work, and now, the blonde was fast asleep, snoring quietly, while Patty was talking to her cousin in the adjoining room and Erin just sat there, holding the engineer’s hand.

Thankfully, the injuries had turned out to not be as bad as Erin had feared when Holtzmann had collapsed; the worst was where a bullet had torn right through her upper arm, the shock and blood loss from that probably what had caused her to pass out, and apart from that injury, the man with the knife had managed to cut her several times before she had shot him, none of the cuts so deep though that the doctor had feared damage to internal organs.

He had stitched and bandaged her up, reminding them all again and again that he was a veterinarian as he did so and warning her that his stitches might not be as fine as those of an actual doctor for people and that they might scar worse than they had, had they gone to the hospital; Holtzmann told him that she didn’t care, and he’d gone to work without another word of protest, the engineer having sat through the pain bravely, only to fall asleep the moment the last cut had been bandaged.

The voices in the next room stopped, and moments later, Patty stepped inside, smiling at her as she sat down next to her, gesturing at the snoring engineer as she got comfortable.

“So my cousin fixed her up”, she then said, “he said she’s gonna be fine as long as she doesn’t move that arm around too early. You really love her or you having Stockholm Syndrome?”

The question came quite out of nowhere, and Erin started, looking at the other woman in surprise; Patty calmly held her gaze, and after a moment, the physicist shrugged, managing a weak smile as she replied. “Would I know if I had it? I don’t think so but… I think I do love her, I look at her and I want to be with her, and I got so scared when she collapsed…”

She knew that all these things could be caused by Stockholm Syndrome, and apparently, Patty did, too, since she just looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments; then, she smiled and nodded, reaching out to pat the other woman’s arm as she replied.

“Well, I’ve heard stranger love stories, being on the force”, she told Erin, making her smile slightly as well, “and I can tell you that she really does love you, too, after what she did to get you out of there…”

Erin nodded, remembering at the same time that, even while she had helped them both, Patty was still a detective, and thus obligated to arrest Holtzmann; she tried to brace herself for the pain of losing her again so shortly after finding her, and couldn’t help but wonder how many years the engineer might end up in prison, realizing that so far, she had no real idea of what the blonde actually had done and built for Gorin.

A strange mixture of grunt and snore from the couch tore her out of these thoughts, and she was somewhat surprised to see that Holtzmann was waking up just as she looked at her again, having been more or less sure that the blonde would be out cold for hours; she did look a bit dazed when she opened her eyes, but was aware enough to give her a weak smile the moment their eyes met, even though her smile faded when she looked at Patty, the detective calmly holding her gaze.

“Detective Tolan”, Holtzmann said, sitting up on the couch despite Erin’s tries to keep her flat on her back, “I imagine you want your payment now for your help. Thanks again, by the way.”

“No problem”, Patty gave back, looking a bit worried though as the engineer grimaced in pain when she finally was sitting upright, “but yes, if you feel up to it, I’d appreciate getting all that info.”

Holtzmann nodded, then asked for a glass of water; and while Patty went to get that, the engineer focused on Erin, giving her another smile as she took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“I’m glad you’re okay”, she said, making Erin smile again, as well, “and I meant what I said back there at that club but… if Patty arrests me after I told her everything, I’m not going to expect that you… I don’t know, wait for me or something. You don’t owe me anything.”

“If she arrests you”, Erin replied, running her thumb over the other woman’s knuckles, “and you go to jail, I’ll visit you as often as they let me and I will wait for you. I meant it too, you know.”

Holtzmann just had time to smile at her, then Patty came back with a glass of water; the engineer took a few sips of it, then cleared her throat, the detective giving her bonus points for not looking away when she started to talk.

“I started working for Gorin seven years ago, when I was twenty-five”, she let the detective know, Erin briefly startled when she realized that she was a good ten years older than the blonde, then deciding that it didn’t matter much, not after everything they had been through together already, “there was… an incident at the lab I was working at that time, a man ended up in a coma and I lost my job there and they threatened to have me arrested, even though it was an accident. Gorin approached me shortly after I’d been fired, and offered me a job and the promise that I wouldn’t have to go to jail.”

Erin felt anger at the elder woman then, for abusing the bad situation of a younger Holtzmann to coerce her into this; she squeezed the engineer’s hand, and Holtzmann gave her a slight smile before her gaze focused on Patty again and she continued, telling her everything – how she had started working for the elder woman and had built printers for counterfeit money at first, how she then had progressed to car bombs and weapons, always just building what Gorin wanted from her and never asking what these things were used for.

During the years, Holtzmann let them know, she had gained Gorin’s trust, and had become somewhat of a favourite of the elder woman; Gorin had trusted her more and more, never telling her everything – she never told anyone everything, Holtzmann informed Patty and Erin, and never trusted anyone fully, but she’d trusted the engineer, enough to tell her about things which had nothing to do with her work, things Holtzmann told Patty now, the detective eagerly writing everything down.

Holtzmann worried a bit as she talked, gave the detective information on heists which had been pulled with her equipment and on the few people which had been murdered, using the things she had made; she worried that this might finally open Erin’s eyes after all, make her see that she was with a _criminal_ , and at this point, she wasn’t sure how she’d react, should Erin tell her that it was too much after all and that she’d leave.

It was hard to tell what Erin was thinking, the engineer had to realize as she briefly glanced at the redhead while she kept talking; her face was perfectly neutral, but at least, Holtzmann reasoned, Erin was still holding on to her hand and hadn’t let go yet.

Finally, she finished, her throat try, and she took another sip of water; Erin squeezed her hand and smiled, and Holtzmann felt a bit better, even though she still worried that any moment now, Erin would realize what she had just heard, and pull back, and leave and never come back.

_Then you’ll have no one,_ Holtzmann thought to herself, swallowing heavily; Erin gave her a concerned look, but still kept holding on to her hand, and after another minute during which Patty finished her notes, Holtzmann allowed herself to hope that perhaps, Erin wouldn’t run off now after all.

“Alright”, Patty said, snapping her notebook shut and pocketing it, “that should be more than enough to lock them up.”

“There’s a USB stick with proof at my house”, Holtzmann let her know, making her raise an eyebrow, “I’ll write down the address for you so you can get it. It’s hidden beneath a loose floorboard at my workbench.”

She quickly noted down the address, halfway ready to be arrested now; instead, Patty got up, then cleared her throat, the engineer surprised when the detective winked at her before she replied. “Thanks for that. I’ll go get that now, I imagine it’ll take me a while, but you’re in no state to travel, are you? So you’ll stay right here until I come back.”

“Oh, of course”, Holtzmann replied at once; Erin smiled, and said “Thank you”, Patty just shaking her head and telling her that there was nothing to thank her for before she left the room – and the moment she was out of the house, the engineer got up from the couch with Erin’s help, not quite sure where they would go now, but immensely relieved that they had the chance to leave together, and perhaps start a new life somewhere else, without the gang and the threat they posed to them hovering over their heads anymore.


	19. Epilogue

They had one more stop to make before they’d leave town, still not sure where they would go, but knowing that they couldn’t stay in New York, not until Gorin and her gang had been locked up in jail, at least; Holtzmann knew that this stop was risky, but couldn’t say no to Erin about it, and now sat in the car she had “borrowed” (Erin had looked the other way when she had hotwired it), trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her arm and trying to calculate when she could take the next painkiller – while Erin was on a payphone on the sidewalk, glancing at her every now and then as she spoke.

“I’m sorry we can’t meet, Abby”, the physicist said, feeling her heart tighten up at the soft sniffle from her best friend, “but right now that’s too dangerous. I promise though, I am fine, it’s just… things have happened, and changed, and we need to leave New York for a while. But I promise I’ll be back!”

“I don’t understand”, Abby gave back, still sniffling, and breaking Erin’s heart, “you went on a date with this guy, went missing and now you call me and tell me you’re fine, but you have to leave the city? Erin, what’s going on? Does this have anything to do with this woman who came to give me your letter?”

“Sort of”, Erin replied, feeling bad, but knowing that in this moment, there was nothing else she could do, aware that making this call already was a risk, “I promise I’ll explain everything when I’m back, okay? Or, I’ll write you another letter, but you’ll know everything at some point, just trust me, okay? I’ll miss you, you’re my best friend…”

“I’ll miss you too”, Abby gave back, apparently realizing that nothing she could say would change Erin’s mind about whatever it was that was going on, “and promise me you’re not in some sort of trouble? If you need help…”

“I’m fine”, Erin replied, glancing at the car, smiling when her gaze fell on Holtzmann sitting on the passenger seat and waiting for her, “and not in trouble. Not anymore. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Okay”, Abby said, still sounding a bit teary, but not as worried anymore as she had when she had taken the call and had realized it was Erin calling her, “as long as you’re fine… okay. Call or write when you can, alright? Take care.”

“You too”, Erin told her, feeling like tearing up as well for a moment, “and thank you for… for everything. For being my friend.”

“Likewise”, Abby sniffled, and Erin quickly said goodbye and hung up, before she’d burst into tears; she hurried back to the car and slid into the driver’s seat, not willing to let Holtzmann drive with a bullet hole through her arm, the blonde looking at her with a mixture of curiousness and concern, asking her if she was okay, clearly able to tell that she was close to tears.

“Fine”, Erin reassured her, managing a slight smile, “it was just… it got a bit emotional. But it’s all taken care of now, so we can go. Where are we going, anyway?”

“I don’t know”, Holtzmann replied, shrugging, “is there a place you’ve always wanted to see?”

“San Francisco”, Erin told her after thinking about that for a moment; the engineer smiled in response and said “San Francisco it is, then”, earning a giggle from the redhead before she leaned in for a brief, but tender kiss, then let the blonde start the engine again.

As she drove out of the parking lot and down the road which would take them onto the highway, she could barely believe that she was doing this, that she was leaving her old life behind like this to basically run away into the unknown with someone who’d been working for a crime gang until a day ago; then she looked at Holtzmann though, and smiled, not regretting a thing as she drove, knowing she was driving into a new life they’d live together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! It is done. :) Thank you all for reading, kudos and commenting, your feedback means so much to me you guys <3


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